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Background: Sepsis is the leading cause of death in critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Lipid metabolism may change during sepsis.Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the lipid profile in patients with sepsis. Methods: After approval of the local ethics committee, all adult patients admitted to a medical ICU of a tertiary teaching hospital were enrolled for one year in a prospective cross-sectional study. The inclusion criterion was the primary diagnosis of sepsis based on the probable or proved source of infection or positive blood culture. The exclusion criterion was the use of any lipid-reducing medications. The serum levels of triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were measured for each patient on the first day after ICU admission. Patients were divided into survivors and non-survivors. Quantitative variables were reported as the mean (± SD). The independent samples t-test was used to compare the means between the two groups. Results: Of 112 patients, 24 were excluded due to the use of lipid-reducing medications. Of 88 enrolled patients, 54.5% were male.The average age was 71.49 ± 11.06 years, and the in-hospital fatality rate was 63.6%. The mean level of TG was significantly higher in survivors than in non-survivors (111.16 ± 37.83 vs. 100.75 ± 21.42 mg/dL, t = 1.429, P = 0.002). Cholesterol, LDL, and HDL levels did not show statistically significant differences between the two groups. Conclusions: Our study illustrated that a lower TG level is associated with higher mortality in patients with sepsis in the ICU. Triglyceride may be used as a clinical indicator to assess the outcome of patients with sepsis.

A methanol poisoning outbreak occurred in Iran during the initial months of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of the outbreak in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. A cross-sectional linkage study was conducted based on the hospitalization data collected from thirteen referral toxicology centers throughout Iran as well as mortality data obtained from the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (LMO). Patient data were extracted for all cases aged > 19 years with toxic alcohol poisoning during the study period from February until June 2020. A total of 795 patients were hospitalized due to methanol poisoning, of whom 84 died. Median [interquartile ratio; IQR] age was 32 [26, 40] years (range 19–91 years). Patients had generally ingested alcohol for recreational motives (653, 82.1%) while 3.1% (n = 25) had consumed alcohol-based hand sanitizers to prevent or cure COVID-19 infection. Age was significantly lower in survivors than in non-survivors (P < 0.001) and in patients without sequelae vs. with sequelae (P = 0.026). Twenty non-survivors presented with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score > 8, six of whom were completely alert on presentation to the emergency departments. The time from alcohol ingestion to hospital admission was not significantly different between provinces. In East Azerbaijan province, where hemodialysis was started within on average 60 min of admission, the rate of sequelae was 11.4% (compared to 19.6% average of other provinces)—equivalent to a reduction of the odds of sequelae by 2.1 times [95% CI 1.2, 3.7; p = 0.009]. Older patients were more prone to fatal outcome and sequelae, including visual disturbances. Early arrival at the hospital can facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment and may reduce long-term morbidity from methanol poisoning. Our data thus suggest the importance of raising public awareness of the risks and early symptoms of methanol intoxication.