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Association of Early and Late Postnatal Serum Lactate/Albumin Ratio and Retinopathy of Prematurity in Preterm
Büşra Çalışkan1, Dilara Korkut2, Mustafa Kara2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine, Erzurum, Türkiye.
Background:
One easily accessible compound index that shows the metabolic and inflammatory status of critically ill patients is the lactate-albumin ratio (LAR). This study set out to evaluate the connection between LAR and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in premature infants.
Methods:
The investigation was conducted retrospectively on 150 premature infants born before 34 weeks who underwent screening for ROP in the neonatal intensive care unit. Demographic and clinical data, as well as ROP examination findings, were recorded for all participants. For the first 24 h following delivery (early phase) and at 34-36 weeks' postmenstrual age (late period), serum lactate and albumin values were measured separately. For each of these measurements, the lactate/albumin ratio was calculated. Mann-Whitney U-test, logistic regression, correlation analyses, together with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed.
Results:
In infants who developed ROP, both the LAR calculated in the early phase (1.16 ± 0.56, P = .03) and the LAR calculated in the late period (0.53 ± 0.19, P = .02) were found to be significantly higher than those without ROP. In post hoc analyses based on disease severity, LAR values were significantly higher in the treatment-requiring ROP group (P = .02). In logistic regression, late-period LAR showed a borderline but statistically non-significant association with ROP development (OR = 11.05; 95% CI = 0.97-125.9; P = .053).
Conclusion:
Lactate-albumin ratio values were associated with ROP development and disease severity in premature infants. However, LAR was not demonstrated to be an independent predictor of ROP in the present study. As a composite index reflecting nutrition, inflammation, tissue oxygenation, and metabolic stress, LAR may provide complementary information regarding systemic vulnerability in premature infants rather than serving as a standalone predictive or screening biomarker. Further prospective and multicenter studies are needed to clarify its potential role in ROP risk assessment. Cite this article as: Çalışkan B, Korkut D, Kara M, Tekgündüz KŞ. Association of early and late postnatal serum lactate/albumin ratio and retinopathy of prematurity in preterm infants: a 2 time point comparative study. Eurasian J Med. 2026, 58(4), 1457, doi: 10.5152/eurasianjmed.2026.261457.
