Shin J, et al. – In this retrospective observational study from a prospectively collected multicenter registry of 10 emergency departments in teaching hospitals that participated in the Korean Shock Society, researchers assessed the clinical utility of the lactate/albumin (L/A) ratio as a predictive factor of 28-day mortality in critically ill sepsis patients. Study participants included 946 patients aged ≥ 19 years of age who had a suspected or confirmed infection and evidence of refractory hypotension or hypoperfusion. Findings suggested the superiority of the prognostic performance of the L/A ratio to that of a single lactate measurement for predicting 28-day mortality in this study population. Regardless of initial lactate level and the presence of hepatic or renal dysfunction, the authors posited that L/A ratio can be a useful prognostic factor. They also noted a significantly higher area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value of the L/A ratio in the subgroup with decreased lactate elimination than that of lactate.