Defining reduced urine output in neonatal ICU: importance for mortality and acute kidney injury classification.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an independent risk factor for mortality in adults and children. Generally, urine output (UO) < 1 mL/kg/h is accepted as oliguria in neonates, although it has not been systematically studied. pRIFLE criteria suggest UO cut-offs similar to those of the adult population (0.3 and 0.5 mL/kg/h). The aim of the present study was to investigate UO in correlation with mortality in critically ill neonates and suggest changes in the pRIFLE definition of reduced diuresis. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed in an eight-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). UO was systematically measured by diaper weight each 3 h. Discriminatory capacity to predict mortality of UO was measured and patients were divided according to UO ranges: G1 > 1.5 mL/kg/h; G2 1.0-1.5 mL/kg/h; G3 0.7-1.0 mL/kg/h and G4 < 0.7 mL/kg/h. These ranges were incorporated to pRIFLEGFR criteria and its performance was evaluated. RESULTS: Of 384 patients admitted at the NICU during the study period, 72 were excluded and overall mortality was 12.8%. UO showed good performance for mortality prediction (area under the curve 0.789, P < 0.001). There was a stepwise increase in hospital mortality according to UO groups after controlling for SNAPPE-II and diuretic use. Using these UO ranges with pRIFLE improves its discriminatory capacity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.882 versus 0.693, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: UO is a predictor of mortality in NICU. An association between a UO threshold < 1.5 mL/kg/h and mortality was observed, which is higher than the previously published pRIFLE thresholds. Adopting higher values of UO in pRIFLE criteria can improve its capacity to detect AKI severity in neonates.

AKI complications in critically ill patients: association with mortality rates and RRT.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: AKI is associated with short- and long-term mortality. However, the exact contribution of AKI complications to the burden of mortality and whether RRT has any beneficial effect on reducing mortality rates in critically ill AKI patients are unknown. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: This was a retrospective analysis using data from the Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care II project. A total of 18,410 adult patients were enrolled from four intensive care units from a university hospital from 2001 to 2008. RESULTS: Overall, 10,245 patients developed AKI. After adjustments, the odds ratios (ORs) for hospital mortality were 1.73 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.52 to 1.98) for AKI stage 1, 1.88 (95% CI, 1.57 to 2.25) for stage 2, and 2.89 (95% CI, 2.41 to 3.46) for stage 3. Totals of 33%, 59%, and 70% of the excess mortality rates associated with AKI stages 1, 2, and 3, respectively, were attenuated by the inclusion of each AKI-related complication in the model. The main burden of excess hospital mortality associated with AKI was attenuated by metabolic acidosis and cumulative fluid balance. Long-term mortality was not attenuated by any of the associated complications. Next, we used two different approaches to explore the associations between RRT, AKI complications, and hospital mortality: multivariate analysis and propensity score matching. In both approaches, the sensitivity analysis for RRT was associated with a better hospital survival in only the following AKI-related subgroups: hyperkalemia (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.85), metabolic acidosis (OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.92), cumulative fluid balance >5% of body weight (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.88), and azotemia (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.81). CONCLUSIONS: A majority of the excess risk of mortality associated with AKI was attenuated by its fluid volume and metabolic complications, particularly in severe AKI. In addition, this study demonstrated that RRT is associated with a better outcome in patients with AKI-related complications.