Quantitative and Qualitative Assessments of Cholesterol Association With Bacterial Infection Type in Sepsis and Septic Shock

Background: Reduced cholesterol levels are associated with increased organ failure and mortality in sepsis. Cholesterol levels may vary by infection type (gram negative vs positive), possibly reflecting differences in cholesterol-mediated bacterial clearance. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a combined data set of 2 prospective cohort studies of adult patients meeting Sepsis-3 criteria. Infection types were classified as gram negative, gram positive, or culture negative. We investigated quantitative (levels) and qualitative (dysfunctional high-density lipoprotein [HDL]) cholesterol differences. We used multivariable logistic regression to control for disease severity. Results: Among 171 patients with sepsis, infections were gram negative in 67, gram positive in 46, and culture negative in 47. Both gram-negative and gram-positive infections occurred in 11 patients. Total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were lower for culture-positive sepsis at enrollment (TC, P
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