A study on sepsis-associated liver injury (SALI) found that a higher lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR) at admission was associated with a 21% increase in 28-day all-cause mortality risk.

The following is a summary of “Association between lactate-to-albumin ratio and 28-days all-cause mortality in patients with sepsis-associated liver injury: a retrospective cohort study,” published in the January 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Yi et al.

Despite the high mortality of sepsis-associated liver injury (SALI), its prognosis remains elusive. In contrast, the lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR), a known mortality predictor in other conditions, lacks research in SALI. Researchers conducted a retrospective study to illuminate whether LAR predicts 28-day mortality in patients with SALI.

They gathered data from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV (v2.2). Adult ICU admissions with SALI were included, focused on the LAR level at admission. Their primary objective was to evaluate the association between the LAR and 28-day all-cause mortality.

The results showed 341 SALI patients, categorized into survival (241) and non-survival (100) groups, yielding a 28-day mortality rate of 29.3%. The multivariable Cox regression demonstrated a 21% increase in 28-day mortality risk for SALI patients with each 1-unit rise in LAR (HR: 1.21, 95% CI 1.11 ~ 1.31, P<0.001).

Investigators concluded that SALI patients with higher LARs faced higher 28-day mortality, hinting at LAR’s potential role as a risk factor.

Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-08978-x