Metabolic rate in acute respiratory failure complicating sepsis.

A simple, reproducible, and noninvasive method was developed for measuring metabolic rate in patients receiving assisted ventilation and increased concentrations of inspired O2. In nonseptic patients requiring assisted ventilation, metabolic rate was within the predicted normal range, but in septic patients it was increased by an average of 60 percent over the predicted normal. This level of resting hypermetabolism is greater than previously reported in septic patients not requiring assisted ventilation. The explanation of this difference is likely to be related to the greater severity of the illness in the present group. The potential clinical significance of these findings is discussed.