CONTEXT: Poisoning is the second leading cause of injury-related fatality in the United States. An elevated serum lactate concentration identifies medical and surgical patients at risk for death; however, its utility in predicting death in drug overdose is controversial and unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the prognostic utility of serum lactate concentration for fatality in emergency department (ED) patients with acute drug overdose. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a case-control study at two urban university teaching hospitals affiliated with a regional poison control center. Data were obtained from electronic medical records, poison center data, and the office of the chief medical examiner. Controls were consecutive acute drug overdoses over a 1-year period surviving to hospital discharge. Cases were subjects over a 7-year period with fatality because of drug overdose. Serum lactate concentration was obtained from the initial blood draw in the ED and correlated with fatality. RESULTS: During the study period, 873 subjects were screened with 50 cases and 100 controls included. Drug exposures and baseline characteristics were similar between groups. Mean lactate concentration (mmol/L) was 9.88 ± 6.7 for cases and 2.76 ± 2.9 for controls (p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic area under the curve for prediction of fatality was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.81-0.94). The optimal lactate cutpoint was 3.0 mmol/L (84% sensitivity, 75% specificity), which conferred a 15.8-fold increase in odds of fatality (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In this derivation study, serum lactate concentration had excellent prognostic utility to predict drug-overdose fatality. Prospective validation in the ED evaluation of drug overdoses is warranted.
CONTEXT: Poisoning is the second leading cause of injury-related fatality in the United States. An elevated serum lactate concentration identifies medical and surgical patients at risk for death; however, its utility in predicting death in drug overdose is controversial and unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the prognostic utility of serum lactate concentration for fatality in emergency department (ED) patients with acute drug overdose. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a case-control study at two urban university teaching hospitals affiliated with a regional poison control center. Data were obtained from electronic medical records, poison center data, and the office of the chief medical examiner. Controls were consecutive acute drug overdoses over a 1-year period surviving to hospital discharge. Cases were subjects over a 7-year period with fatality because of drug overdose. Serum lactate concentration was obtained from the initial blood draw in the ED and correlated with fatality. RESULTS: During the study period, 873 subjects were screened with 50 cases and 100 controls included. Drug exposures and baseline characteristics were similar between groups. Mean lactate concentration (mmol/L) was 9.88 ± 6.7 for cases and 2.76 ± 2.9 for controls (p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic area under the curve for prediction of fatality was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.81-0.94). The optimal lactate cutpoint was 3.0 mmol/L (84% sensitivity, 75% specificity), which conferred a 15.8-fold increase in odds of fatality (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In this derivation study, serum lactate concentration had excellent prognostic utility to predict drug-overdose fatality. Prospective validation in the ED evaluation of drug overdoses is warranted.
Authors: Hélène C F Côté; Zabrina L Brumme; Kevin J P Craib; Christopher S Alexander; Brian Wynhoven; Lillian Ting; Hubert Wong; Marianne Harris; P Richard Harrigan; Michael V O'Shaughnessy; Julio S G Montaner Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2002-03-14 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Mark E Mikkelsen; Andrea N Miltiades; David F Gaieski; Munish Goyal; Barry D Fuchs; Chirag V Shah; Scarlett L Bellamy; Jason D Christie Journal: Crit Care Med Date: 2009-05 Impact factor: 7.598
Authors: Damon M Dell'Aglio; Louis J Perino; Ziad Kazzi; Jerome Abramson; Michael D Schwartz; Brent W Morgan Journal: Ann Emerg Med Date: 2009-06-25 Impact factor: 5.721