D-Dimer Levels and the Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation Score to Predict Severity and Outcomes in Sepsis or Septic Shock.

BACKGROUND

Studies investigating the diagnostic and prognostic value of D-dimer levels and the disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) score in sepsis or septic shock commonly include preselected subgroups of patients or were published prior to the current sepsis-3 criteria. Therefore, this study investigates the diagnostic and prognostic impact of D-dimer levels and the DIC score in patients with sepsis and septic shock.

METHODS

Consecutive patients with sepsis and septic shock enrolled in the prospective and monocentric "MARSS" registry from 2019 to 2021 were included. First, the diagnostic value of D-dimer levels was compared to the DIC score to discriminate patients with septic shock from patients with sepsis without shock. Thereafter, the prognostic value of D-dimer levels and the DIC score was tested for 30-day all-cause mortality. Statistical analyses included univariable t-tests, Spearman´s correlations, C-statistics, Kaplan-Meier, as well as uni- and multivariable cox regression analyses.

RESULTS

One hundred patients were included (n = 63 with sepsis and n = 37 with septic shock). The overall rate of all-cause mortality at 30 days was 51%. With an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.710 and 0.739, both D-dimer level and the DIC score revealed reliable diagnostic accuracy for the discrimination of septic shock. However, D-dimer levels and the DIC scores were shown to have poor to moderate prognostic accuracy (AUC 0.590 - 0.610) with regard to 30-day all-cause mortality. Specifically, very high D-dimer levels (i.e., > 30 mg/L) (HR = 2.648; 95% CI 1.147 - 6.112; p = 0.023) and a DIC scores ≥ 3 (HR = 2.095; 95% CI 1.095 - 4.009; p = 0.0258) were associated with highest risk of 30-day all-cause mortality. Finally, both higher D-dimer levels (HR = 1.032; 95% CI 1.005 - 1.060; p = 0.021) and DIC scores (HR = 1.313; 95% CI 1.106 - 1.559; p = 0.002) were associated with increased risk of 30-day all-cause mortality after multivariable adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS

Both D-dimer levels and the DIC scores revealed reliable diagnostic accuracy for the discrimination of septic shock, but a poor to moderate prognostic value for the discrimination of 30-day all-cause mortality. Especially very high D-dimer levels (i.e., > 30 mg/L) and a DIC score ≥ 3 were associated with highest risk of 30-day all-cause mortality.