Serum Lactate Upon Emergency Department Arrival as a Predictor of 30-Day in-Hospital Mortality in an Unselected population

El Lactato Sérico como Predictor de la Mortalidad Intrahospitalaria a los 30 días tras la Llegada al Servicio de Urgencias de Pacientes no Seleccionados

Hyperlactatemia has been shown to be related to a higher mortality rate in selected patients admitted in the Intensive Care Units. The aim of this study, published recently, was to evaluate the prognostic property of lactate and to identify a cutoff level of  serum lactate for predicting 30-day in-hospital mortality in unselected patients admitted to the Emergency Department. Park et al. also aimed to assess the outcomes in patients with hyperlactatemia defined by the determined cutoff value.

 

This single center retrospective hospital-based cohort study analyzed patients admitted to the Emergency Department of a Korean tertiary referral hospital. Data was extracted from the electronic medical record system of the hospital.

Park et al. believe that routine blood lactate test in unselected patients may play an important role as a screening tool in the Emergency Department. It could alleviate overcrowding at the Emergency Department by fast decision making on patients with lower risk of poor prognosis, and could contribute to reduce adverse events such as revisiting the Emergency Department and early death after discharge.

The authors of this retrospective cohort study concluded that a serum lactate level greater than 2.6 mmol/L predicted a 30-day in-hospital mortality in unselected patients who arrived at the Emergency Department and were admitted to the hospital. Furthermore, Park et al. consider that serum lactate test in the Emergency Department could be an effective screening method for identifying low risk patients.

This study, published in January 2018 by the journal PLOS One, was written by Yong Joo Park, Dong Hoon Kim, Seong Chun Kim, Tae Yun Kim, Changwoo Kang, Soo Hoon Lee, Jin Hee Jeong, Sang Bong Lee and Daesung Lim.

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Serum Lactate Upon Emergency Department Arrival as a Predictor of 30-Day in-Hospital Mortality in an Unselected population