Serum inflammatory biomarkers can predict clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis-associated gastrointestinal dysfunction

BACKGROUND: Effective predictive indicators for clinical outcomes in septic patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction (GID) remain lacking. AIM: To evaluate the relationship between serum inflammatory biomarkers (SIBs) and clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis-induced GID. METHODS: = 41; APACHE II ≤ 10) prognosis groups based on outcomes. Clinical variables (sex, age, body mass index, smoking history, diabetes, hypertension, and infection site) were collected. SIBs, encompassing procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6/10, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, were analyzed. Correlation analyses were conducted to assess the associations of SIBs with Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and APACHE II scores. Receiver operating characteristic curves visualized SIBs' predictive performance, and multivariate analysis identified independent outcome predictors. RESULTS: The groups were similar in age, sex, body mass index, comorbidities, and major infection site. The poor prognosis group exhibited elevated APACHE II, SOFA, PCT, CRP, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α than the good prognosis cohort. SIBs correlated positively with both APACHE II and SOFA scores. When used to predict outcomes individually, SIBs yielded an area under the curve range of 0.660-0.780 in septic patients with GID, whereas combined biomarker analysis increased the area under the curve to 0.906. APACHE II, SOFA, PCT, CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α acted as independent predictors of prognosis. CONCLUSION: SIBs correlate intimately with clinical outcomes in sepsis-induced GID patients.