Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) has been suggested to serve as a useful prognostic marker for
sepsis. However, existing LPC assays are complicated, time-consuming, and of limited application in real clinical situations. Thus, we investigated the serum LPC levels in
sepsis patients using an enzymatic assay and analyzed the correlations between the serum LPC concentration and clinical characteristics. We prospectively collected blood samples from suspected
sepsis patients, commencing on day 1 of
sepsis. We analyzed all samples using an enzymatic assay. Additionally, we analyzed the serum LPC concentrations in a control group of 21 healthy blood donors. A total of 105 patients who fulfilled the
sepsis criteria were included. The mean serum LPC concentration was 43.49 ± 33.09 μmol/L in
sepsis patients, which was much lower than that of 21 healthy controls (234.68 ± 30.33 μmol/L, p<0.001). Bacteremic
sepsis was associated with a lower serum LPC concentration than non-bacteremic
sepsis (34.8 ± 26.85 vs. 49.05 ± 35.63 μmol/L, p<0.05). No difference in serum LPC concentration was evident between survivors and non-survivors. The serum LPC concentration tended to decrease with the severity of
sepsis. The day 1 serum LPC concentration was decreased in patients with
sepsis, especially when
bacteremia was present. However, the serum LPC level did not correlate with disease severity and did not predict mortality from
sepsis.