The Prognostic Value of Lactate Clearance in Hospital-acquired Pneumonia

There is no clear consensus on the use of pneumonia severity index (PSI) developed for community-acquired pneumonia in hospital-acquired pneumonia cases. In another aspect, PSI is a relatively difficult scoring system that includes many parameters. This study evaluated whether lactate clearance could be used as a mortality marker instead of PSI in hospital-acquired pneumonia. As a result, lactate clearance was lower in the mortal group and when the diagnostic statistics were evaluated, it was seen that the sensitivity and specificity rates were significantly higher. In conclusion, lactate clearance has been evaluated as a strong predictor of mortality in hospital-acquired pneumonia.