Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s response to infection brings about injury to its own tissues and organs. It is one of the most common cause of death worldwide, especially when it is not diagnosed and treated swiftly. Treating sepsis timely improves the outcome and mortality of patients. Serum lactate levels, among other biomarkers, have been used to diagnose sepsis and guide the treatment. This research aims to explore the prognostic accuracy of the serum lactate level, the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and the quick SOFA (qSOFA) in predicting mortality in patients with sepsis.

In order to conduct this study, Liu et al. collected data available from a single-center critical care database, including information on thousands of patients admitted to the ICU of a US medical center during 11 years (from 2001 to 2012).

1.865 patients diagnosed with sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock on discharge met the inclusion criteria for this research.

The SOFA, qSOFA and GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) scores of the patients were calculated according to the data obtained during the first 24 hours of their ICU stay In this study used the lactate levels measured in the first 24 hours; if lactate levels were measured more than once, then the average lactate level was used.

Many studies have confirmed the association between lactate levels and the prognosis of critically ill patients. This research concluded that lactate is a better prognostic factor than qSOFA and SOFA in adult sepsis patients, although Liu et al. recommend further studies are carried out as this study in based on retrospective data.

This research was carried out by Zhiqiang Liu, Zibo Meng, Yongfeng Li, Jingyuan Zhao, Shihong Wu, Shanmiao Gou and Heshui Wu, and it was published in 2019 in Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine (2019) 27:51

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