Results The incidence of SCM in patients with sepsis or septic shock was 18.4% (42/228). In the SCM group, the patients were older (t = 5.309, P<0.001), the incidences of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD), atrial fibrillation, heart failure and chronic kidney failure were higher (χ2 = 5.090, P = 0.024; χ2 = 6.399, P = 0.011; χ2 = 31.848, P< 0.001; χ2 = 3.979, P = 0.046), and the levels of white blood cell (WBC), lactate, creatine kinase isoenzymes-MB, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) Ⅱ score (t = 4.560, P<0.001; Z = 3.855, P<0.001; Z = 2.075, P = 0.038; Z = 5.513, P<0.001; Z = 5.913, P<0.001) were all much higher than those in the non-SCM group. The multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.071, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.006, 1.139), P = 0.030], CHD [OR = 3.185, 95%CI (1.201, 8.447), P = 0.020], heart failure [OR = 3.028, 95%CI (1.041, 8.810), P = 0.042], WBC [OR = 1.095, 95%CI (1.003, 1.196), P = 0.042], lactate [OR = 1.095, 95%CI (1.014, 1.183), P = 0.021], hs-cTnT [OR = 1.629, 95%CI (1.098, 2.418), P = 0.015], APACHEⅡ score [OR = 1.092, 95%CI (1.003, 1.188), P = 0.043] were independent risk factors for the incidence of SCM. The ROC curve analysis showed that the age [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.767, 95%CI (0.694, 0.840), P<0.001], WBC [AUC = 0.757, 95%CI (0.689, 0.824), P<0.001], lactate [AUC = 0.690, 95%CI (0.603, 0.778), P<0.001], hs-cTnT [AUC = 0.772, 95%CI (0.071, 0.843), P<0.001] and APACHEⅡ score [AUC = 0.792, 95%CI (0.727, 0.856), P<0.001] all had certain predictive values for SCM occurrence.