Low LDL-cholesterol does not increase hospital sepsis risk: JAMA

A new study published in JAMA Network has reported that lower measured LDL-C levels were not directly associated with increased risk of sepsis in patients admitted to the Hospital with Infection. The study further revealed that genetic risk factors for higher LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) were also not associated with sepsis or its outcomes. The results of the study have appeared in JAMA.

The researchers conducted the study to find out the association between low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the risk of sepsis in patients admitted to the hospital with a serious infection.

Sepsis is a complication of infection and is characterized by an uncontrolled systemic inflammatory response, organ failure, poor clinical outcomes, and a high mortality rate. Sepsis is a common cause for admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) and contributes to 1 in every 2 to 3 in-hospital deaths.

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QiPing Feng and associates conducted a cohort study to examine the association between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and risk of sepsis among patients admitted to the hospital with an infection.

The investigators used a deidentified electronic health record (EHR) repository linked to a DNA biobank to define baseline measured LDL-C levels and an LDL-C genetic risk score (GRS).

The authors found that among the 3961 patients with clinically measured LDL-C levels and the 7804 with a GRS for LDL-C, lower measured LDL-C levels were significantly associated with increased risk of sepsis but not in-hospital mortality. However, none of these associations were statistically significant after adjustment for age, sex, and comorbidity variables. The LDL-C GRS correlated with measured LDL-C levels but was not significantly associated with any of the outcomes.

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“We used epidemiologic and genetic approaches to define the association between LDL-C levels and sepsis and found that lower LDL-C levels measured in patients at least 1 year before they were admitted to the hospital with infection were associated with increased risk of sepsis, ICU admission, and in-hospital mortality. However, when comorbidities were considered, no association between LDL-C levels and sepsis or its outcomes occurred,” write the authors.

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