Increasing illness severity is associated with global myocardial dysfunction in the first 24 hours of sepsis admission

Background Septic cardiomyopathy was recognized more than 30 years ago, but the early phase remains uncharacterized as no existing studies captured patients at the time of Emergency Department (ED) presentation, prior to resuscitation. Therapeutic interventions alter cardiac function, thereby distorting the relationship with disease severity and outcomes. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of illness severity on cardiac function during the first 24 h of sepsis admission. Methods This was a pre-planned secondary analysis of a prospective observational study of adults presenting to the ED with suspected sepsis (treatment for infection plus either lactate > 2 mmol/liter or systolic blood pressure