The following is a summary of “Lipid Intensive Drug Therapy for Sepsis Phase II Pilot Clinical Trial,” published in the March 2024 issue of Critical Care by Guirgis et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating whether intravenous lipid emulsions could prevent changes in total cholesterol levels at 48 hours in septic patients with low cholesterol, who are at higher risk of death.

They enrolled patients who met the study criteria, which included having total cholesterol levels equal to or less than 100 mg/dL or a combination of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) equal to or less than 70 mg/dL. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either lipid emulsion doses or no medication (controls). The study aimed to compare changes in serum total cholesterol levels between groups over 48 hours.

The results showed 49 individuals. Before drug administration, two participants assigned to the lipid emulsion group were withdrawn. Analysis was conducted on data from 24 control subjects and 23 lipid emulsion recipients. No significant disparity in the average change in total cholesterol over 48 hours between the groups, with lipid emulsion recipients displaying a mean change of 5 mg/dL (_sd 20) and control subjects 2 mg/dL (_sd18) (P=0.62). Similar changes were observed in HDL-C and LDL-C between the groups. Lipid emulsion recipients exhibited elevated triglyceride levels with a mean change of 61 mg/dL (_sd87) compared to controls with 20 mg/dL (_sd 70, P=0.086). The 48-hour change in SOFA score for control subjects was –2 (IQR –4, –1) and for lipid emulsion recipients –2 (IQR –3, 0) (P=0.46).

Investigators concluded that IV lipid emulsions administered to early sepsis patients with low cholesterol did not impact their cholesterol levels after 48 hours.

Source: journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/abstract/9900/the_lipid_intensive_drug_therapy_for_sepsis_phase.305.aspx