Early Treatment in the "Golden Hour"

"Survival in Human Septic Shock Optimized by Early Treatment" - Daniel E. Butz, PhD

A poignant example of the need for early detection of bacterial infections is illustrated by a study of septic shock (bacterial infection of the blood) by Dr Anand Kumar and his colleagues. The research article entitled “Duration of Hypotension Before Initiation of Effective Antimicrobial Therapy is the Critical Determinant of Survival in Human Septic Shock” refers to the first critical hour of treatment as "The Golden Hour".

The researchers studied records from 2731 adult hospital patients who developed severe septic shock. It was found that 58% of infections were acquired from the community while an astounding 42% of infections were acquired from the hospital itself. Of the patients studied over 44% were admitted from the emergency room. The overall survival rate of those with septic shock was only 56%, however, if the infection was diagnosed and treated within the first half-hour of appearance of an early biomarker of septic shock (hypotension) the survival rate was almost 83%.

Half of all patients in the study diagnosed with septic shock were not treated until the sixth hour after appearance of hypotension; of those patients treated during the sixth hour the survival rate was only 42%. Thus the researchers conclude that with every hour after appearance of hypotension that treatment is begun the survival rate fell by 7.6% per hour.

The data presented in this study provide strong evidence of “The Golden Hour” for patients diagnosed with septic shock where early treatment of infections optimizes survival outcomes.

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"Daniel E. Butz, PhD, is a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he works on low dose toxicology of environmental contaminants as well as early detection of catabolic diseases."