• S R Eachempati, L Hydo, and P S Barie.
• Department of Surgery, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. seachempati@surgery.med.cornell.edu
• Arch Surg Chicago. 1999 Dec 1;134(12):1342-7.

HypothesisAmong factors postulated to affect outcome in sepsis is the gender of the patient, with a suggestion that females may have lower mortality. This study tested the hypothesis that female patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit with a documented infection have a lower mortality rate.DesignRetrospective analysis of a prospectively collected data set.SettingSurgical intensive care unit of a university hospital medical center.MethodsAnalysis of a consecutive series of 1348 patients who had signs of systemic inflammatory response syndrome on admission to a surgical intensive care unit. A cohort of 443 patients (32.9%) admitted with documented infection--and who therefore had sepsis, severe sepsis, or septic shock--constituted the study population. For each patient, APACHE (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) II and III scores, systemic inflammatory response syndrome score, gender, age, and hospital mortality were recorded. Chi2 With Fisher exact test was performed to compare mortality rates between males and females. Univariate analysis of variance was used to compare continuous variables in discrete populations. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine which factors independently predicted mortality.Primary Outcome MeasuresMortality, intensive care unit length of stay, hospital length of stay, and maximal multiple organ dysfunction score. Outcomes stratified by gender.ResultsPatients had mean +/- SEM age of 67+/-1 years; mean +/- SEM APACHE II and III scores of 20.1+/-0.4 and 67.7+/-1.0 points, respectively. There were no demographic differences between genders. Overall, 104 (23.5%) of 443 patients with sepsis died. The difference in mortality rates between female and male patients was not significant, except in octogenarians (P = .05). Multivariate analysis of variance, APACHE III (P<.001), maximal multiple organ dysfunction score (P<.001), and female gender (P =.02) predicted mortality. In females, APACHE III (P = .03) and maximal multiple organ dysfunction score (P<.001) predicted mortality, but age did not.ConclusionFemale gender is an independent predictor of increased mortality in critically ill surgical patients with documented infection.

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