Serum pre-albumin is prognostic for all-cause mortality in patients with community-acquired and post-operative acute kidney injury.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a critical clinical syndrome characterised by a rapid decrease in renal filtration, with the accumulation of products of metabolism such as creatinine and urea. In recent years, the incidence of AKI has increased not only in critically ill hospitalised patients but also in community patients. Also, the prognosis of AKI is poor and treatment is limited in these populations. The increasing incidence and poor prognosis may be the reasons why more investigators are involved in epidemiological and risk factor analysis of AKI.

Aims: To investigate the effects of these risk factors on outcomes in both community-acquired and hospitalised AKI populations to provide certain guidance for clinics and to explore the prognostic value of prealbumin on all-cause mortality in patients with community-acquired and post-operative AKI.

Methods: From 2000 to 2010, 477 patients diagnosed with AKI and treated in the Department of Nephrology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, were enrolled in the community-acquired AKI (CA-AKI) group and 138 patients diagnosed with AKI after an operation were enrolled in the post-operative AKI (PO-AKI) group. Data were collected at AKI onset and 1 year after discharge and analysed retrospectively.

Results: Compared with PO-AKI patients, more patients in CA-AKI group had chronic kidney disease, obesity and hyperlipidaemia, and fewer patients had cerebrovascular disease (CVD), anaemia, shock or arrhythmia. Risks for CA-AKI were atherosclerosis, CVD, arrhythmia, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and usage of vasoactive agents, and risks for PO-AKI were elderly, arrhythmia and requirement of renal replacement therapy. A higher level of serum PA was associated with a better outcome in the CA-AKI group (hazard ratio 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.85-0.996) and PO-AKI group (hazard ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.84-0.99). In the CA-AKI group, the cumulative survival rate of patients with a normal PA level (PA >20 mg/dL) was higher than that among patients with a lower PA (PA ≤20 mg/dL; 95.4% vs 88.3%, P = 0.031). Similarly, in the PO-AKI group, a normal PA level was associated with a higher survival rate (74.1% vs 47.6%, P = 0.019).

Conclusion: Serum PA may serve as a prognostic marker for CA-AKI and PO-AKI, and further research is warranted to confirm this finding.