This document describes a study that aims to measure serum cortisol levels in patients with septic shock admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care hospital and assess the correlation between serum cortisol levels and mortality. The study will be a prospective observational study involving 106 patients meeting inclusion criteria of being over 18 years old with sepsis/septic shock and excluding those with prior glucocorticoid treatment, adrenal insufficiency, liver cirrhosis, or chronic renal failure. The study is being conducted over 2 years at KIMS Hubli ICU to determine if very high or low cortisol levels are associated with high mortality in septic shock patients.