Journal of Intensive Care· 2026Q1
Can full-stay lactate burden predict ICU mortality? The importance of a defined prediction time
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A full-stay time-weighted average lactate (TWAL) is associated with ICU mortality, but its inability to predict outcomes prospectively from a defined time point limits clinical utility.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Full-stay time-weighted average lactate (TWAL) is linked to ICU mortality.
- TWAL cannot be finalized until ICU discharge or death, preventing prospective prediction.
- The incremental value of time weighting over mean lactate is unclear.
- A prespecified landmark framework is proposed to better assess prognostic value.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Deininger and colleagues reported that time-weighted average lactate calculated over the entire intensive care stay was strongly associated with mortality after traumatic brain injury. This finding supports full-stay TWAL as a summary of sustained lactate exposure; however, because the measure cannot be finalized before death or discharge, it does not establish prospective prognostic performance from a predefined, clinically actionable time. The 72-h analysis also represents conditional prognosis among patients remaining under intensive care at that landmark. The incremental value of time weighting over mean lactate remains uncertain, and performance estimated in an outcome-matched subset may not generalize to a consecutive population. A prespecified landmark framework would better define the clinical prognostic value of longitudinal lactate indices.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Intensive Care, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Epidemiology
EpidemiologyMedicine