title: Association between the lactate/albumin ratio and mortality in pediatric septic shock patients with underlying chronic disease: retrospective pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We aimed to evaluate the ability of the lactate/albumin ratio to predict mortality in pediatric septic shock patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of the medical records of a pediatric intensive care unit. The study cohort comprised 90 pediatric septic shock patients admitted from February 2012 to May 2015.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum lactate and albumin levels and lactate/albumin ratio were compared between survivors and non-survivors. We assessed whether the lactate/albumin ratio could be used to predict mortality. The 28-day hospital mortality was 26.7% (24/90). The lactate level was higher (2.5±2.2 vs. 8.1±5.1 mmol/L, P<0.001) and the albumin level was lower (2.9±0.5 vs. 2.7±0.5 mg/dL, P=0.063) in non-survivors than in survivors. The lactate/albumin ratio was 0.9±0.8 in survivors and 3.2±2.4 in non-survivors (P<0.001). According to the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), the lactate/albumin ratio showed good discriminatory power for predicting mortality (AUC=0.867). A lactate/albumin ratio exceeding 1.016 led to a 7.636-fold increase in mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lactate/albumin ratio is a useful predictor of mortality in pediatric septic shock patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center Children's Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seung J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center Children's Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Ju
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center Children's Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Won K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Jhang
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center Children's Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea - goodjobman79@naver.com.
authors.forename: Seong J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis*; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D019344:Lactic Acid