[Lactate levels with regards to the pulse pressure in patients with shock]

Lactate is one of the most useful biomarkers to screen patients with shock; therefore, the aim of this study was to establish the levels of lactate regarding the pulse pressure in that sort of patients.

Observational, retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study of patients over 18 years diagnosed with shock from an emergency room of a tertiary care hospital. Lactate levels and pulse pressure were used as biomarkers. We used descriptive statistics, Student's t test and Pearson correlation coefficient.

We obtained 46 patients. The average age was 39.52 (SD 15.22), media initial lactate level was 5.88 mmol/L (SD 3.89) and media final lactate level 3.31 mmol/L (SD = 3.12); initial pulse pressure was 19.78 mmHg (SD 7.45) and final pulse pressure 31.52 mmHg (SD 31.52). The relation of secondary diagnosis did show predominance in chest trauma with 13 patients. There was a statistical significance in initial lactate and final lactate of r = 0.83 (p = 0.00), and initial pulse pressure and final pulse pressure: r = 0.57 (p = 0.001). There was not a significant correlation between final lactate and final pulse pressure (r: -0.184, p = 0.222).

Even when several studies emphasize the clinical significance of biomarkers in the diagnosis and management of patients with hypovolemic shock, it is necessary to do more studies in order to find the efficacy of the non-invasive screening in this type of pathology.