Can a simple blood test predict brain injury in sepsis?

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: Cohort 1: * ≥ 18 years old * Presented to the emergency department at Shands * Has not donated blood within the last 8 weeks * Willing to participate and follow up at 6 months after discharge from the hospital * Not anemic or have any other hematological disorders that requires transfusions Meets two or more Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria: * Temperature \>38°C or \<36°C * Heart rate (HR) \> 90bpm * Respiratory rate (RR) \> 20bpm or partial pressures of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) \<32mm mercury (HG) * White Blood Cell (WBC) \>12,000/µL or \< 4,000/µL or \>10% immature/ bands Clinical suspicion of sepsis (blood cultures ordered/ antibiotics started) Altered mental status Enrolled within 6 hours of ED presentation Cohort 2 * ≥ 18 years old * Presented to the emergency department at Shands * Has not donated blood within the last 8 weeks * Willing to participate and follow up at 6 months after discharge from the hospital * Not anemic or have any other hematological disorders that requires transfusions Meets two or more SIRS criteria: * Temperature \>38°C or \<36°C * HR \> 90bpm * RR \> 20bpm or PaCO 2 \<32mmHG * WBC \>12,000/µL or \< 4,000/µL or \>10% immature/ bands Clinical suspicion of sepsis (blood cultures ordered/ antibiotics started) No altered mental status Enrolled within 6 hours of ED presentation Cohort 3 (control) * Does not meet SIRS criteria * No clinical suspicion of sepsis (no cultures/ antibiotics ordered) * Not altered * Patient has admission orders Exclusion Criteria (all cohorts): * Participating in another interventional, therapeutic study that may affect the results of this study * Subject has neurodegenerative disease or other neurological disorder (dementia, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, seizure disorder, or brain tumours) * History of neurosurgery within the last 30 days * Acute brain injury within the last 30 days (ischemic/ haemorrhagic stroke, traumatic brain injury) * Subject is anemic OR donated blood within the last 8 weeks OR has a hematological disorder that requires transfusions * Subject has history of liver failure OR renal failure * Pregnant or lactating female