Just how life-saving is the early administration of antibiotics in sepsis? In their article in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Vincent X. Liu and colleagues attempt to answer that question by analyzing the records of 35,000 patients whose care was guided by a multicenter quality improvement program that had all sepsis patients on antibiotics within six hours of emergency department registration.

The study found each hour’s delay in antibiotic treatment increased absolute mortality by 0.3 percent for sepsis, 0.4 percent for severe sepsis, and 1.8 percent for shock.

The authors said the findings “support currently held beliefs that administering early antibiotics to infected patients with systemic inflammation is beneficial for reducing mortality” and demonstrate the value of analyzing electronic medical records to clarify medical issues that would not be ethical to study through randomized, controlled clinical trials.