Zampieri FG, Park M, Ranzani OT, Maciel AT, de Souza HP, da Cruz Neto LM, da Silva FP. Anion gap corrected for albumin, phosphate and lactate is a good predictor of strong ion gap in critically ill patients: a nested cohort study.
Rev Bras Ter Intensiva 2015;
25:205-11. [PMID:
24213083 PMCID:
PMC4031845 DOI:
10.5935/0103-507x.20130036]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2013] [Accepted: 08/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective
Corrected anion gap and strong ion gap are commonly used to estimate unmeasured
anions. We evaluated the performance of the anion gap corrected for albumin,
phosphate and lactate in predicting strong ion gap in a mixed population of
critically ill patients. We hypothesized that anion gap corrected for albumin,
phosphate and lactate would be a good predictor of strong ion gap, independent of
the presence of metabolic acidosis. In addition, we evaluated the impact of strong
ion gap at admission on hospital mortality.
Methods
We included 84 critically ill patients. Correlation and agreement between the
anion gap corrected for albumin, phosphate and lactate and strong ion gap was
evaluated by the Pearson correlation test, linear regression, a Bland-Altman plot
and calculating interclass correlation coefficient. Two subgroup analyses were
performed: one in patients with base-excess <-2mEq/L (low BE group - lBE) and
the other in patients with base-excess >-2mEq/L (high BE group - hBE). A
logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between admission
strong ion gap levels and hospital mortality.
Results
There was a very strong correlation and a good agreement between anion gap
corrected for albumin, phosphate and lactate and strong ion gap in the general
population (r2=0.94; bias 1.40; limits of agreement -0.75 to 3.57).
Correlation was also high in the lBE group (r2=0.94) and in the hBE
group (r2=0.92). High levels of strong ion gap were present in 66% of
the whole population and 42% of the cases in the hBE group. Strong ion gap was not
associated with hospital mortality by logistic regression.
Conclusion
Anion gap corrected for albumin, phosphate and lactate and strong ion gap have an
excellent correlation. Unmeasured anions are frequently elevated in critically ill
patients with normal base-excess. However, there was no association between
unmeasured anions and hospital mortality.
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