Background: Lipid profiles are infrequently measured in clinical management of sepsis patients. Sepsis leads to significant
alterations in the metabolism of lipids. The aim of the present study was to determine whether changes in plasma lipid concentrations
during sepsis treatment were associated with clinical outcome.
Methods: In this study, 74 adult septic patients were included in this prospective observational study from January to December
2017. Patients taking lipid lowering agents were excluded. A detailed medical history was obtained and clinical examination was
performed. Serum total cholesterol (STC) and its fractions [low-and high-density lipoprotein] and triglyceride levels were measured in
the morning of the first day after admission and then once weekly. The primary outcomes of the study were in-hospital mortality, and
hospital stay and hypocholesterolemia were defined as STC levels < 50 mg/dL. Manne-Whitney U and chi-squared tests were used for
data analysis, and significance level was set at p<0.05.
Results: In this study, 78.4% (CI 95%: 67.3-87.1) of patients had hypocholesterolemia. During the study period, 21.6% (CI 95%:
12.9- 32.7) of patients died. All lipid (except TG) concentrations continuously decreased in deceased sepsis patients but increased in
recovering patient (p value for STC (p=0.004), LDL (p=0.006), HDL (p=0.010), and TG (p=0.052)). The serum lipids concentration
was not associated with length of hospital stay (p value for STC (p=0.524), LDL (p=0.813), HDL (p=0.799) and TG (p=0.581)).
Conclusion: In this study it was found that the additional decline of lipid profile was significantly associated with increased
mortality rate of sepsis patients. Thus, the clinically termed 'the lipaemia of sepsis' is not true in all situations
