EMBARGOED UNTIL: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 18:30PM ET
BOSTON, MA – A study of nearly 100,000 adults treated for suspected infection suggests that the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2), a score based on routinely collected vital signs that is widely used to identify patients at risk of clinical deterioration, may help clinicians identify which patients are most likely to benefit from immediate antibiotic treatment and which may safely undergo further evaluation before receiving antibiotics. NEWS2 has been adopted by many healthcare systems internationally and is recommended in the United Kingdom to help guide the urgency of antibiotic treatment in suspected sepsis, but until now there has been little empirical evidence supporting this approach.
The study, led by investigators from the Center for Sepsis Epidemiology & Prevention Studies (SEPSIS) at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, appears in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine on August 5.
Refining Urgent Treatment Decisions in Sepsis
While timely administration of antibiotics is a cornerstone of sepsis care, diagnosing sepsis early can be complicated because its symptoms often overlap with many other serious medical conditions. Many patients treated for possible sepsis ultimately have non-infectious illnesses, exposing them to antibiotics that may offer limited benefit while increasing the risk of adverse effects and antibiotic overuse.
Recognizing the need to balance timely treatment with diagnostic uncertainty, international sepsis guidelines have evolved from recommending immediate antibiotics for all patients with suspected sepsis toward prioritizing patients with septic shock, where the evidence suggests treatment delays have the greatest impact on survival. However, it has remained unclear whether septic shock alone is sufficient to identify all patients who may benefit from immediate antibiotics.
“The challenge with sepsis is that clinicians must decide whether to give antibiotics right away before they know with certainty whether a patient has a serious bacterial infection,” says Chanu Rhee, Harvard Medical School associate professor at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and lead author of the study. “Our study suggests that NEWS2, a simple early warning score based on routinely measured bedside parameters, can help identify the patients most likely to benefit from immediate treatment—including many beyond those with septic shock— while allowing clinicians greater confidence to take additional time evaluating lower-risk patients."
Researchers analyzed electronic health record (EHR) data from nearly 100,000 adults treated for suspected infection in emergency departments at nine U.S. hospitals between 2015 and 2024. They examined how the relationship between antibiotic timing and survival varied according to NEWS2 scores and the presence or absence of septic shock. To the researchers' knowledge, this is the first large study to compare two international strategies for guiding the urgency of antibiotic treatment in suspected sepsis -- the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendation to use NEWS2 to guide the urgency of antibiotic treatment in patients with suspected sepsis, alongside the Surviving Sepsis Campaign's emphasis on septic shock.
Key Findings
"One of the most important unanswered questions in sepsis has been whether there is a better way to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from immediate antibiotics than relying on septic shock alone," said Michael Klompas, Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study. "Our findings suggest that NEWS2 may provide an objective and practical way to identify those patients using a simple bedside score that is already routinely used in clinical practice."
The researchers note that the study was observational and cannot prove that earlier antibiotic treatment directly caused differences in survival. Additional studies in other healthcare settings will be important to confirm the findings.
About the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute’s Department of Population Medicine
The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine is a unique collaboration between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Harvard Medical School. Created in 1992, it is the first appointing medical school department in the United States based in a health plan. The Institute focuses on improving health care delivery and population health through innovative research and education, in partnership with health plans, delivery systems, and public health agencies. Follow us on Bluesky , X , and LinkedIn .
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine
Observational study
Not applicable
NEWS2 versus shock status to stratify antibiotic urgency in patients with suspected sepsis: a retrospective, multicentre cohort study
5-Aug-2026