Cost Analysis of Vasopressin Use in Septic Shock and Predictive Performance of GOSSIS in ICU Mortality

In a UPMC Health System cohort of 3,898 adult ICU patients with septic shock, vasopressin as a second-line vasopressor is linked to higher adjusted hospital costs (cost ratio 1.14, 95% CI 1.08–1.20).

• Why it matters: Rising acquisition costs for vasopressin and the need for reliable ICU mortality risk tools create pressure to quantify economic impact and validate prediction for septic shock patients.
• What they did: In a multi-center retrospective cohort (Jan 2021–Jan 2022), generalized linear models (log link, gamma distribution) compared adjusted total healthcare costs between vasopressin users (n=1,060) and alternative second-line vasopressors (n=2,838), with recycled predictions estimating a $5,887 marginal cost difference.
• The result: GOSSIS showed strong calibration, with predicted ICU mortality closely matching observed rates across severity strata, supporting its use for resource allocation in critically ill septic shock populations.

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