Association of Lymphopenia with Short Term Outcomes of Sepsis Patients; a Brief Report

Introduction: studies have claimed that low lymphocyte count is independently correlated with 28-day survival of sepsis patients. therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the value of lymphopenia in predicting the short-term outcome of sepsis patients. methods: this cross-sectional study was performed on sepsis patients referred to the emergency department during an 8-month period and relationship of lymphopenia with 28-day mortality and probability of septic shock and readmission due to sepsis was assessed. results: 124 cases with the mean age of 66.12 ± 15.82 (21-90) years were studied (54.8% male). 81 (65.3%) cases had lymphopenia (59.3% male). lymphopenic patients had a significantly higher mean age (p = 0.003), higher need for icu admission (p < 0.001), higher prevalence of 28-day septic shock (p < 0.001), higher 28-day mortality (p < 0.001), higher probability of readmission due to sepsis (p = 0.048), and higher sofa score (p < 0.001). during 28 days of follow up, 57 (46%) patients were expired. they had a higher prevalence of septic shock (p < 0.001) and higher sofa score (p < 0.001). multivariate analysis showed that septic shock (or=364.6; 95% ci: 26.3 to 5051.7; p = 0.001) and lymphopenia (or=19.2; 95% ci: 1.7 to 211.3; p = 0.016) were the independent predictors of 28-day mortality. conclusion: based on the findings, lymphopenia was independently associated with higher 28-day mortality and lymphopenic patients were older than the control group and had a significantly higher need for icu admission, higher probability of 28-day septic shock and readmission due to sepsis, and higher sofa score.