Tan L, Xu Q, Li C, et al. - A significant predictor of short- and long- term mortality in acute aortic dissection (AAD) is low serum bicarbonate (HCO3−) level measured at ICU admission.

• The MIMIC-III database was used.

• Total 336 ICU patients with AAD were divided as: low-HCO3− level group (< 22 mmol/L), mid-HCO3− level group (22– 24 mmol/L) and high-HCO3− level group (> 24 mmol/L).

• No interaction was seen in most strata in subgroup analyses.

• Areas under receiver operating characteristic curve, for HCO3− effectiveness in predicting short-term and long-term mortality, ranged from 0.60 to 0.69.