Clinical, antibiotic resistance features, and treatment outcomes of Vietnamese patients with community-acquired sepsis caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae

•A total of 7% of the patients had septic shock and 10.8% died.•The patients with septic shock had higher procalcitonin, creatinine, and platelet indexes.•Klebsiella pneumoniae was susceptible to many antibiotics but had 87% resistance to ampicillin.•The mortality rate of the septic shock was much higher in those without septic shock.•Organ dysfunction and late hospitalization were associated with septic shock and death. This study describes the clinical and paraclinical features, antibiotic resistance levels, and treatment outcomes of Klebsiella pneumoniae septicemia acquired in the Vietnamese community. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 102 patients with community-acquired sepsis caused by K. pneumoniae from July 2018 to July 2023. K. pneumoniae–induced community sepsis had a septic shock rate of 13.7% and a death rate of 10.8%. Organ dysfunction rate in the patients with septic shock were higher than the patients without septic shock. The procalcitonin, creatinine, and platelet indexes increased more than in the septic shock group. K. pneumoniae strains were resistant to cephalosporins and quinolones (8-10%) and ampicillin (87%). Late hospitalization raises the risk of mortality by ∼3.5 times, and combination therapy with more than two kinds of antibiotics increases the risk of death by ∼1.8 times. The mortality rates were 9.1% and 63.6% after 4-6 and 2-3 weeks of therapy, respectively. Of the 11 patients who died, 90.9% died of septic shock, whereas 9.1% died of sepsis. K. pneumoniae–induced community sepsis resulted in 13.7% septic shock, and 10.8% of the patients died. There was 87% K. pneumoniae resistance to ampicillin. Organ dysfunction and late hospitalization were associated with septic shock and death.