Lower platelet mitochondrial function in severe septic patients than in controls

The oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) in septic patients has been scarcely analyzed in studies of small sample size and the results are apparently inconsistent. Previously, including 96 severe septic patients, we found that nonsurviving severe septic patients showed lower platelet respiratory complex IV (CIV) activity than surviving patients at the moment of severe sepsis diagnosis and during the first week of sepsis diagnosis. However, we did not examine this enzyme activity in normal individuals. Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the CIV activity between severe septic patients and healthy control individuals in a larger series of patients (including 198 severe septic patients).