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Critical Care
Published in: Critical Care 5/2013

Open Access 01-10-2013 | Research

Even Mild Hyperlactatemia Is Associated with Increased Mortality in Critically Ill Patients

Authors: Asgar H Rishu, Raymond Khan, Hasan M Al-Dorzi, Hani M Tamim, Saad Al-Qahtani, Ghassan Al-Ghamdi, Yaseen M Arabi

Published in: Critical Care | Issue 5/2013

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Abstract

Introduction

The clinical significance of elevation of lactate levels within the reference range is not well studied. The objective of this study was to determine the best cutoff threshold for serum lactate within the reference range (0.01 to 2.00 mM) that best discriminated between survivors and nonsurvivors of critical illness and to examine the association between relative hyperlactatemia (lactate above the identified threshold) and mortality.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study of adult patients admitted to the medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care academic center. Youden index was calculated to identify the best lactate cutoff threshold that discriminated between survivors and nonsurvivors. Patients with lactate above the identified threshold were defined as having relative hyperlactatemia. Multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for baseline variables, was performed to determine the relationship between the above two ranges of lactate levels and mortality. In addition, a test of interaction was performed to assess the effect of selected subgroups on the association between relative hyperlactatemia and hospital mortality.

Results

During the study period, 2,157 patients were included in the study with mean lactate of 1.3 ± 0.4 mM, age of 55.1 ± 20.3 years, and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score of 22.1 ± 8.2. Vasopressors were required in 42.4%. Lactate of 1.35 mM was found to be the best cutoff threshold for the whole cohort. Relative hyperlactatemia was associated with increased hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29 to 1.98), and ICU mortality (aOR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.26 to 2.17) compared with a lactate level of 0.01 to 1.35 mM. This association was consistent among all examined subgroups.

Conclusions

Relative hyperlactatemia (lactate of 1.36 to 2.00 mM) within the first 24 hours of ICU admission is an independent predictor of hospital and ICU mortality in critically ill patients.
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Metadata
Title
Even Mild Hyperlactatemia Is Associated with Increased Mortality in Critically Ill Patients
Authors
Asgar H Rishu
Raymond Khan
Hasan M Al-Dorzi
Hani M Tamim
Saad Al-Qahtani
Ghassan Al-Ghamdi
Yaseen M Arabi
Publication date
01-10-2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Critical Care / Issue 5/2013
Electronic ISSN: 1364-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/cc12891

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