Peak serum lactate as a robust predictor of imminent death in life-sustaining treatment decisions: A study of 73,927 patients

Severe hyperlactatemia during hospitalization showed high precision and specificity for predicting 30-day mortality across various patient groups. These findings suggest that hyperlactatemia could serve as an objective auxiliary indicator for determining the terminal phase, potentially improving consistency in end-of-life decision-making in clinical practice.