Hemodynamic Characteristics of Patients with Hypothermia Due to Occult Infection and Other Causes

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Abstract
Patients with hypothermia were prospectively evaluated to assess clinical and laboratory data that would differentiate those patients with hypothermia caused by severe infection and bacteremia and those with hypothermia from other causes. Of the 85 patients, 32 had had hemodynamic monitoring, allowing hemodynamic differences between the 2 groups. Clinical characteristics, including admission temperature, leukocyte count, mean arterial pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, arterial pH and pulmonay capillary wedge pressure, did not distinguish between the 2 groups. Patients with infection with bacteremia had lower calculated systemic vascular resistances (486.0 .+-. 125.0 compared with 1759.9 .+-. 331.0 dynes .cntdot. s .cntdot. cm-5; P = 0.001) and higher cardiac indices (7.1 .+-. 1.9 compared with 2.8 .+-. 0.7 l/min .cntdot. m2; P = 0.006) than patients without severe infections. Thus, hemodynamic characteristics are different in patients with infection-related hypothermia and patients with hypothermia associated with other causes, and these characteristics appear to depend on the underlying disease.

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