Clinical value of blood lactate in predicting the prognosis of neonatal sepsis

Abstract:

Objective To explore the clinical value of arterial blood lactate level in predicting the prognosis of neonatal sepsis. Methods The clinical data of 301 cases of neonatal sepsis were collected, which mainly included biochemical indicators such as blood lactate on admission, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin. ROC curves were plotted to evaluate the value of lactate level on admission in predicting the prognosis of neonatal sepsis. Results The mortality rate was significantly higher for full-term infants in the severely-elevated lactate group than in the mildly-elevated lactate group and the normal lactate group (26.1% vs 3.1% and 0%; P < 0.017). The poor prognosis group had a significantly increased lactate level on admission compared with the good prognosis group (6.5±5.1 mmol/L vs 3.6±1.7 mmol/L; P < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of blood lactate level on admission (cutoff value:6.15 mmol/L) were 0.545 and 0.919 respectively, in predicting the prognosis of neonatal sepsis. Conclusions Early blood lactate level can be used as a biochemical parameter to predict the prognosis of neonatal sepsis as it has a high specificity but a low sensitivity.