Trends in vital signs and routine biomarkers in sepsis patients during resuscitation in the emergency department: a prospective observational pilot study

Objectives: Sepsis lacks a reliable and readily available measure of disease activity. Thereby, it remains unclear how to monitor response to treatment. Research on numerous (new) biomarkers associated with sepsis provided disappointing results and little is known about changes in vital signs during sepsis resuscitation. We hypothesised that trends in vital signs together with routine biomarker levels during resuscitation might provide information about the response to treatment at a very early stage of sepsis in the emergency department (ED). We therefore explore trends in vital signs and routine biomarker levels during sepsis resuscitation in the ED. Design: Prospective observational pilot study. Setting: ED of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Participants: 99 Adult non-trauma patients with suspected infection and 2 or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria admitted to the ED.