A Hospital Based Prospective Study to Assess the Early Lactate Clearance For Predicting Hospital Mortality of Children with Sepsis

Abstract

Background: Sepsis is one of the most common and deadly diseases worldwide. It is characterized by a life-threatening “disproportionate” immune response to infection, with high mortality. Lactate is known to play a major role in energy production and cellular metabolism. Hence, the present study was undertaken for assessing the role of early lactate clearance for predicting n hospital mortality children with sepsis. Martials &Methods: Assessment of all the patients of the pediatric ICU was done. A total of 50 sepsis patients were enrolled. Complete demographic and clinical details were obtained. Lactate levels were measured in arterial blood using a blood gas analyser at different time intervals. Outcome was recorded. All the results were summered and were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: A total of 50 subjects with mean age of 52.1 months were enrolled. Among them, 60 percent were males while the remaining were females. Pneumonia, Encephalitis, Meningitis, Dengue, Burn and Abscess were the underlying pathology in 36 %, 30 %, 20 %, 6 %, 4 %, and 4 % of the patients respectively. Mortality rate was 30 percent. Lactate clearance was found to be significant predictor of mortality. Conclusion: From the above results, the authors conclude that persistently high lactate levels are a predictor of mortality in pediatric patients with sepsis.