It is unclear whether initial infection control or anticoagulant therapy exerts a greater effect on early changes in the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score among patients with sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). This retrospective propensity score cohort study aimed to evaluate whether adequacy of infection control or anticoagulation therapy had a greater effect on early changes in the SOFA scores among 52 patients with sepsis-induced DIC. Inadequate initial infection control was associated with a lower 28-day survival rate among patients with sepsis-induced DIC (odds ratio OR: 0.116, 95% confidence interval CI: 0.022-0.601; P = .010); however, the adequacy was not associated with an early improvement in the SOFA score. However, despite adjusting for inadequate initial infection control, administration of recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin was associated with an early improvement in the SOFA score (OR: 5.058, 95% CI: 1.047-24.450; P = .044). Therefore, early changes in the SOFA score within 48 hours after the DIC diagnosis were more strongly affected by the administration of recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin than the adequacy of initial infection control.