Evaluation of the predictive value of the glucose-to-potassium ratio in predicting in-hospital mortality of patients with sepsis and septic shock

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of the glucose-to-potassium ratio in predicting in-hospital mortality and prognosis of patients diagnosed with sepsis and septic shock in an emergency department and admitted to an emergency critical intensive care unit (ICU).

This study was a retrospective and observational evaluation of nontraumatic sepsis and septic shock patients > 18 years of age who were admitted to the emergency department of a tertiary training and research hospital and had available glucose and potassium values at the time of admission. The patients were evaluated over a 24-month period. The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between the glucose-to-potassium ratio and in-hospital mortality in sepsis patients.

Data derived from 175 patients were included in the statistical analysis. Blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, direct bilirubin, C‑reactive protein, and lactate levels were found to be significantly higher in the nonsurvivor group than in the survivor group (p < 0.05). On the other hand, hemoglobin, hematocrit, albumin, pH, HCO₃ and base excess levels were found to be statistically significantly higher in the survivor group than in the nonsurvivor group (p < 0.05). The glucose-to-potassium ratio was not significant in terms of predicting mortality in sepsis patients (p = 0.324). In the receiver–operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of various parameters’ significance in terms of predicting mortality, APACHE 2 scores had the highest area under the curve (AUC) value (0.729).

According to the results of this study, the glucose-to-potassium ratio did not have a significant value in predicting mortality risk in sepsis and septic shock patients admitted from the emergency department to the emergency critical ICU.