A clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that intravenous acetaminophen reduced sepsis patients’ risk of having organ injury or developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) a serious condition that allows fluid to leak into the lungs.

Sepsis is the body’s uncontrolled and extreme response to an infection. While the trial did not improve mortality for all patients regardless of severity, the researchers found that acetaminophen gave the greatest benefit to the sepsis patients who were most at risk for organ damage. With the therapy, those patients needed less assisted ventilation and experienced a slight, though statistically insignificant, decrease in mortality. The study was published May 19, 2024, in JAMA.

In sepsis, red blood cells become injured at abnormally high rates, releasing what is often called cell-free hemoglobin into the blood. The body becomes overwhelmed and can’t remove this excess hemoglobin, which can lead to organ damage.