Lactate has been thoroughly studied and found useful for stratification of patients with sepsis, in the Intensive Care Unit, and trauma care. However, little is known about lactate as a risk-stratification marker in the Medical Emergency Team- (MET-) call setting. We aimed to determine whether the arterial blood lactate level at the time of a MET-call is associated with increased 30-day mortality. This is an observational study on a prospectively gathered cohort at a regional secondary referral hospital. All MET-calls during the two-year study period were eligible. Beside blood lactate, age and vital signs were registered at the call. Among the 211 calls included, there were 64 deaths (30.3%). Median lactate concentration at the time of the MET-call was 1.82 mmol/L (IQR 1.16–2.7). We found differences between survivors and nonsurvivors for lactate and oxygen saturation, a trend for age, but no significant correlations between mortality and systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, and heart rate. As compared to normal lactate (<2.44 mmol/L), OR for 30-day mortality was 3.54 (p < 0.0006) for lactate 2.44–5.0 mmol/L and 4.45 (p < 0.0016) for lactate > 5.0 mmol/L. The present results support that immediate measurement of blood lactate in MET call patients is a useful tool in the judgment of illness severity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.