Utility of lactate measurement in the diagnosis of serious bacterial infection in young infants

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea
²Department of Emergency Medicine, Konkuk University Chungju Hospital, Chungju, Korea

Correspondence

Dong Wook Lee ,Tel: 041-570-2119, Fax: 041-592-3806, Email: yisfm83@gmail.com,

Received: July 22, 2019; Revised: September 14, 2019 Accepted: October 15, 2019. Published online: February 28, 2020.

ABSTRACT

Objective:
Serious bacterial infection (SBI) is a common disease among infants, and it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Making the diagnosis of SBI is challenging and measurement of various biomarkers is useful. This study examined the utility of lactate at an emergency department for diagnosing SBI patients.
Method:
This was a retrospective, observational study of febrile infants less than 90 days old presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary hospital between September 2014 and August 2017. The demographic and laboratory data was collected through a chart review.
Results:
Laboratory tests such as the white blood cell count, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin, and lactate showed significant differences on the Student-T test and the Mann Whitney-U test. Multivariabe logistic regression test was done using the variables with significant differences. CRP (P=0.037; odds ratio, 1.01), procalcitonin (P=0.011; odds ratio, 1.02) and lactate (P=0.001; odds ratio, 2.38) shows significant correlation.
Conclusion:
For febrile infants at the emergency department, the measurement of lactate is expected to be a useful tool to diagnose serious bacterial infection.

Key words: Infection; Lactic acid; Biomarker