Activated protein C and mortality in septic shock: a new analysis

From Critical Care Medicine:

Design, Setting, and Patients: A retrospective cohort study at 404 U.S. hospitals. We studied 33,749 patients with sepsis who were admitted to intensive care and administered antibiotics and vasopressors within 2 days of admission.

In a propensity-matched sample in which all covariates achieved balance, receipt of activated protein C was associated with reduced hospital mortality (40.7% vs. 46.6%; risk ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-0.95). This result was insensitive to a hypothetical unmeasured confounder. A similar pattern was observed across groups stratified by age and number of organ-supportive therapies. Four activated protein C-treated patients (0.25%) had hemorrhagic stroke, 107 (6.8%) had gastrointestinal bleeding, and five (0.3%) required major transfusion.

Conclusions: Among patients presenting with septic shock, early treatment with activated protein C may be associated with reduced hospital mortality.