Figure 1.

During the study period, 493 patients with severe sepsis and septic shock were screened, and 211 patients were excluded. The reasons for exclusion included nonpneumonia infection and no detectable pathogens in lower respiratory tract sample for culture. A total of 282 patients were enrolled for analysis. No patients withdrew. Initially, 152 and 130 patients received adequate and inadequate antibiotic therapy, respectively. Fifty-nine and 66 patients died in adequate and inadequate antibiotic groups, respectively.