Arterial catheterization and in-hospital mortality in sepsis: a propensity score-matched study

Despite the extensive use of arterial catheterization (AC), clinical effectiveness of AC to alter the outcomes among patients with sepsis and septic shock has not been evaluated. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between the use of AC and in-hospital mortality in septic patients. Adult patients with sepsis from Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care database were screened to conduct this retrospective observational study. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to estimate the relationship between arterial catheterization (AC) and in-hospital mortality. Multivariable logistic regression and inverse probability of treatment weighing (IPTW) were used to validate our findings. A total of 14,509 septic patients without shock and 4,078 septic shock patients were identified. 3,489 pairs in sepsis patients without shock and 589 pairs in septic shock patients were yielded respectively after PSM. For patients in the sepsis without shock group, AC placement was associated with increased in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.17-1.54; p