Predictors and Outcomes of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Patients Admitted to the Medical Intensive Care Unit for Sepsis—A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is associated with poor clinical outcomes in critically ill sepsis patients, but its pathophysiology and predictors are incompletely characterized. We aimed to investigate the predictors of RV dysfunction and its outcomes in sepsis patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study of adult patients admitted to the ICU for sepsis who had echocardiography within 72 h of diagnosis. Patients with acute coronary syndrome, acute decompensated heart failure, or significant valvular dysfunction were excluded. RV dysfunction was defined as the presence of RV dilation, hypokinesis, or both. Demographics and clinical outcomes were obtained from electronic medical records. Results: A total of 361 patients were included in our study—47 with and 314 without RV dysfunction. The mean age of the population was 66.8 years and 54.6% were females. Compared to those without RV dysfunction, patients with RV dysfunction were more likely to require mechanical ventilation (63.8% vs. 43.9%, p = 0.01) and vasopressor support (61.7% vs. 36.6%, p < 0.01). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, increasing age (OR 1.03, 95% C.I. 1.00–1.06), a history of HIV infection (OR 5.88, 95% C.I. 1.57–22.11) and atrial fibrillation (OR 4.34, 95% C.I. 1.83–10.29), and presence of LV systolic dysfunction (OR 14.40, 95% C.I. 5.63–36.84) were independently associated with RV dysfunction. Patients with RV dysfunction had significantly worse 30-day survival (Log-Rank p = 0.023). On multivariate Cox regression analysis, older age (HR 1.02, 95% C.I. 1.00–1.04) and peak lactate (HR 1.16, 95% C.I. 1.11–1.21) were independent predictors of 30-day mortality. Conclusions: Among other findings, our data suggests a possible association between a history of HIV infection and RV dysfunction in critically ill sepsis patients, and this should be investigated further in future studies. Patients with evidence of RV dysfunction had poorer survival in this population; however this was not an independent predictor of mortality in the multivariate analysis. A larger cohort with a longer follow-up period may provide further insights.