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A new study from researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City found that starting an advanced medication earlier for critically ill patients with life-threatening septic shock does not improve their survival, shorten hospital stays or improve their recovery compared with waiting until their condition potentially worsens.

These new research findings provide clinicians with evidence to guide best-practice treatment decisions for patients with septic shock, a severe form of sepsis that causes dangerously low blood pressure and contributes to an estimated one in three hospital deaths nationwide.

Sepsis is one of the most common and deadly medical emergencies that affect 1.7 million Americans each year. It occurs when the body's response to an infection damages its own tissues and organs. Septic shock occurs when this response causes blood vessels to dilate too much, resulting in blood pressure so low that it impairs the flow of blood and oxygen in the body to vital organs such as the brain, kidneys and heart.

Sepsis is also a leading cause of intensive care unit admissions and one of the most expensive conditions treated in U.S. hospitals, costing billions to treat annually, so developing best-practice guidelines for treatment is vital, researchers note.

The new Intermountain Health study, published online on Oct. 14 in JAMA , found clinicians can safely wait to see whether a patient's shock worsens before starting vasopressin, a medication that is a naturally occurring hormone, to restore blood pressure when first-line medications related to adrenaline are not enough.

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