Evaluation of inflammation-related prognostic scores, CRP/albumin, LDH/albumin and lactate/albumin ratios in patients with sepsis

Purpose: Results regarding the clinical usefulness and predictive accuracy of inflammation-based parameters, including C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and lactate in septic patients are conflicting. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the relationships of the combination of these inflammatory parameters with albumin, disease severity and prognosis. Materials and methods: 98 patients diagnosed with sepsis were categorised as survivors (n=68) and nonsurvivors (n=30) according to their intensive care unit (ICU) mortality. Prognostic factors were evaluated with the receiver operating characteristic curve and Cox proportional hazard regression model. Survival was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Compared to survivors, nonsurvivors had increased CRP and lactate (13.5 vs 10.0, p=0.044; 2.2 vs 1.7, p=0.006, respectively), while LDH and albumin levels were not significantly different (246.0 vs 245.0, p=0.624; 2.9 vs 3.0, p=0.061, respectively). When combined factors were evaluated, CRP/albumin and lactate/albumin were significantly higher in nonsurvivors (4.9 vs 3.0, p=0.018; 0.8 vs 0.5, p=0.001, respectively), while LDH/albumin was similar in both groups (93.1 vs 78.9, p=0.148). Lactate/albumin had the highest AUC of 0.709 (p=0.001), while CRP had the lowest AUC of 0.628 (p=0.044). In a multivariate analysis of possible predictors of ICU mortality, only lactate could be an independent predictor of poor outcome (HR:1.998; p=0.020), while other variables were not independently associated. Conclusion: Increased CRP, lactate, CRP/albumin and lactate/albumin levels in septic patients were associated with poor outcomes. Lactate level was an independent predictor of mortality.