Rlationship between serum levels of uric acid and prognosis of infection in the critically ill

Abstract

Objective To explore the clinical implications of the initial levels of serum uric acid (SUA) after admission in the critically ill patients with infection,and to investigate the relationship between SUA and prognosis of infection.Methods From January 2003 to April 2010,471 patients with infection were admitted to the ICU of Huashan Hospital,Fudan University,Shanghai.Data,including serum uric acid (SUA),serum creatinine,blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and other relevant laborartory results within 24hours after admission,were retrospectively analyzed.The distribution of uric acid was described.The t test was used to evaluate the relation between SUA and preexisting disorders.Patients with different level of SUA were classfied for further analysis.x2 test was used to examine the difference in the prognosis of infection.Results The mean initial level of SUA within 24 hours after admission was 0.232 ± 0.131 mmol/L and the median 0.199 mmol/L. Remarkable difference in initial levels of SUA were observed in patients with preexisting hypertension (t=-3.084,P=0.002),diabetes mellitus (t=-2.487,P=0.013),cerebral infarction (t=-3.061,P=0.002),renal insufficiency (t=-4.547,P＜0.01),central nervous system infection (t =5.096,P ＜ 0.01 ) and trauma (t =2.875,P =0.004).Serum uric acid was linearly correlated with serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (F =159.470 and 165.059,respectively; P ＜0.01).No statistical correlation was found between initial levels of SUA and prognosis of infection (x2=60.892,P=0.100).Conclusions There is no direct correlation between the initial levels of SUA afteradmission and the prognosis of infection in the critically ill patients. Key words: Intensive care unit; Infection; Uric acid; Blood urea nitrogen; Creatinine; Pneumonia; Central nervous system infection; Renal insufficiency; Prognosis