title: A widened pulse pressure: a potential valuable prognostic indicator of mortality in patients with sepsis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and the most common cause of death among critically ill patients in non-coronary intensive care units. Previous studies have showed pulse pressure (PP) to be a predictor of fluid responsiveness in patients with sepsis. Additionally, previous studies have correlated PP to cardiovascular risk factors and increase in mortality in end-stage renal disease patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the correlation between PP and mortality in patients with sepsis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review was conducted on 5,003 patients admitted with the diagnosis of sepsis using ICD-9 codes during the time period from January 2010 to December 2014 at two community-based hospitals in central Pennsylvania.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study findings showed significant decrease in the mortality when the PP was greater than 70 mmHg of patients with sepsis (p-value: 0.0003, odds ratio: 0.67, 95% confidence limit: 0.54-0.83).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on our findings, we suggest that PP could be a valuable clinical tool in the early assessment of patients admitted with sepsis and could be used as a prognostic factor to assess and implement management therapy for the patients with sepsis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pinnacle Health Hospital, Harrisburg, PA, USA; hkhalisy@pinnaclehealth.org.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al-Khalisy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pinnacle Health Hospital, Harrisburg, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nikiforov
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pinnacle Health Hospital, Harrisburg, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Manjit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jhajj
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pinnacle Health Hospital, Harrisburg, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Namratha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kodali
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pinnacle Health Hospital, Harrisburg, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Pramil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cheriyath
keywords: pulse pressure; sepsis; sepsis mortality; sepsis therapy; septic shock