Introduction:

the relationship between heart rate and systolic blood pressure has been called shock index (SI). The progressive organ dysfunction (POD) is associated with increased mortality.

Objective:

to determine whether elevated shock index is a risk factor for POD in patients with circulatory shock.

Material and methods:

observational and prospective study in patients with circulatory shock. The shock index at admission, 24, 48 and 72 hours was calculated. A shock index > 0.70 beats per minute/mmHg was considered elevated. POD was defined as an increase in the SOFA score (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) ≥ 2 points at 72 hours. Logistic regression analysis was performed to calculate the strength of association of the shock index with POD.

Results:

90 patients were analyzed, 64.4% of participants had elevated shock index with median of 0.94 (0.81-1.15) beats per minute/mmHg. The percentage of POD in the group with high shock index was 25.86% vs 9.37%, p = 0.09. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed an OR of 4.11 (1.00-16.92), p = 0.05 for the elevated shock index.

Conclusions:

the shock index > 0.70 beats per minute/mmHg on admission is a risk factor for POD in patients with circulatory shock.