Objective To study incidence of hyperlactatemia and its correlation with outcome in critically ill children. Design Single-center, prospective cohort study. Setting Eight-bedded PICU. Method Serial serum lactate levels were measured in 140 critically ill children at 0, 12, 24, and 48 hours. Results A total of 45% children had hyperlactatemia. Lactate levels were significantly ( p = 0.000) higher in nonsurvivors at all intervals. Lactate levels decreased significantly ( p = 0.000) in survivors while increased in nonsurvivors. Normalized lactate load was found to be an independent predictor of mortality ( p = 0.023). Conclusion Persistent hyperlactatemia serves as a possible predictor of poor outcome in critically ill children.
Keywords: PICU; PRISM; critically ill children; hyperlactatemia; normalized lactate load.