Culture-Negative and Culture-Positive Sepsis: A Comparison of Characteristics and Outcomes

While culture status is important for tailoring antibiotics, culture-negative and culture-positive patients with sepsis demonstrate similar characteristics and, after adjusting for severity of illness, similar mortality. The most important factor associated with negative cultures is receipt of antibiotics during the preceding 48 hours. The risk of death in patients suspected of having an infection is most associated with severity of illness. This is aligned with the Sepsis-3 definition using Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score to better identify those suspected of infection at highest risk of a poor outcome.