Lack of clinically evident signs of organ failure affects ED treatment of patients with severe sepsis

Table 3 Univariate analysis of presence of clinical and laboratory signs of organ failure of septic ED patients admitted to the ward and ICU

Variable	ICU	Ward	P
No. (%)	125 (39)	198 (61)
Clinically evident signs of organ failure
Respiratory difficulty	70 (56)	89 (45)	0.034
Septic shock	36 (29)	27 (14)	<0.001
Altered mental status	54 (43)	59 (30)	0.003
Febrile chills	22 (18)	49 (25)	0.259
Laboratory signs of organ failure
Lactate >4	42 (34)	56 (28)	1.0
Urea >7.14 mmol/l	85 (68)	143 (72)	0.895
Thrombocytopenia	28 (22)	38 (19)	0.335
Total PIRO score	12.8 ± 4.3	11.8 ± 5.1	0.054

Clinically evident and laboratory signs of organ failure were defined as in the PIRO score [17]. Liver dysfunction was not shown since it occurred in only three cases because of sepsis. Abbreviations: ED, emergency department; PIRO, predisposition, infection, response, organ failure score.

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