Prediction of culture-positive sepsis and selection of empiric antibiotics in critically ill patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections: a retrospective study

Purpose To compare the mortality rates between culture-positive and culture-negative sepsis in complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and investigate the predictors of culture-positivity and their causative microorganisms. Materials and methods The medical records of 1581 adult patients who underwent emergency gastrointestinal surgery between January 2013 and December 2018 were reviewed retrospectively. A total of 239 patients with sepsis or septic shock who were admitted to an emergency department, underwent emergency surgery for cIAI, and needed postoperative intensive care unit care were included and divided into two groups according to their initial blood and peritoneal culture results. Results Among the 239 patients, 200 were culture-negative and 39 were culture-positive. The culture-positive group had higher in-hospital (35.9% vs 14.5%; P = .001) and 30-day mortality (30.8% vs 12.0%; P = .003) than the culture-negative group. Colon involvement (OR 4.211; 95% CI 1.909–9.287; P