Lactate/albumin ratio is more effective than lactate or albumin alone in predicting clinical outcomes in intensive care patients with sepsis

This study aimed to compare the value of lactate, albumin, and lactate/albumin ratio for the prediction of mortality in sepsis patients. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to sepsis between January 2016 and January 2019 were evaluated retrospectively. Lactate, albumin, and lactate/albumin ratio values were compared between surviving and non-surviving patients and their predictive value for mortality was evaluated. A total of 1136 sepsis patients admitted to the ICU were included in the study. The mortality rate was 42.7% (485/1136 patients). In ROC analysis for mortality prediction, the area under the curve and optimal cut-off values were 0.816 and >2.2 mmol/L for lactate, 0.812 and ≤26 g/L for albumin, and 0.869 and >0.71 for lactate/albumin ratio, respectively. Our analysis of lactate, albumin, and lactate/albumin ratio in the largest patient sample to date showed that lactate/albumin ratio was a stronger parameter than lactate or albumin alone in predicting mortality among sepsis patients in the ICU. Lactate/albumin ratio is an easily obtained parameter with potential value for critically ill patients.