? Augmenting vasopressor dosages selleck catalog to elevate MAP to more than 70 mmHg may increase mortality.? Future trials are needed to identify the lowest acceptable MAP level to ensure tissue perfusion and avoid unnecessary high catecholamine infusions.AbbreviationsCI: confidence interval; MAP: mean arterial blood pressure; RR: relative risk; SAPS: Simplified Acute Physiology Score.Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.Authors’ contributionsMWD made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, acquired, analysed and interpreted data, drafted the manuscript and gave final approval of the version to be published. ER made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, interpreted data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published.

VP made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, interpreted data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published. HU analysed and interpreted the data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published. CT acquired and interpreted data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published. CAS acquired and interpreted data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published.

SJ made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, interpreted data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published. JT made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, interpreted data, revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be published.Supplementary MaterialAdditional file 1: A Word file containing three tables and one figure. Table S1 is a table that lists the characteristics of the 68 excluded patients. Table S2 is a table that lists the disease-related events and vasopressor support during the shock period in the 68 excluded patients. Table S3 is a table that lists the association between heart rate during septic shock and 28-day mortality.

The figure presents the vasopressor load in study patients with a mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) of less than 70 mmHg during the shock period (n = 68; mean vasopressor load 2.31 �� 6.56 ��g/kg/min) compared with the mean vasopressor load in study Carfilzomib patients with a MAP of more than 70 mmHg during the shock period (n = 290; mean vasopressor load 0.64 �� 1.92 ��g/kg/min, reference line).Click here for file(47K, DOC)Additional file 2: A Word file containing three tables. Table S1 is a table that lists the characteristics of the study population.