Relative hyperlactatemia and hospital mortality in critically ill patients: A retrospective multi-centre study

Abstract

Introduction: Higher lactate concentrations within the normal reference range (relative hyperlactatemia) are not considered clinically significant. We tested the hypothesis that relative hyperlactatemia is independently associated with an increased risk of hospital death.Methods: This observational study examined a prospectively obtained intensive care database of 7,155 consecutive critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of four Australian university hospitals. We assessed the relationship between ICU admission lactate, maximal lactate and time-weighted lactate levels and hospital outcome in all patients and also in those patients whose lactate concentrations (adm..