Hypothermia, Poorly Recognized by Clinicians, is Associated with Higher Mortality Among Critically Ill Patients with Infections: A Retrospective Observational Study

We investigated the relationship between the presence of hypothermia in infection and mortality in 233 infectious critically ill patients. The adjusted hazard ratio for death at 28 days in the low body temperature group was 3.30 compared with the high body temperature group. The proportion of appropriate antimicrobial therapy significantly decreased with decreasing body temperature. The proportion of medical records that documented body temperature abnormality in the low body temperature group (33%) was significantly lower than that in the high body temperature group (69%). Delayed antimicrobial therapy in patients with hypothermia, which may be due to poor recognition by physicians, could result in mortality.