Hyperuricemia as an Early Marker in Predicting Mortality and Morbidity in Patients with Sepsis.

Unlabelled: Sepsis continues to be a medical and financial burden for both developed and developing countries, and affects all age groups. The normal value of uric acid varies with age, gender, ethnicity and physiologic status of the population. Uric acid levels in septicemic patients and their correlation with increased global prevalence along with septic shock depends on its severity. The use of uric acid levels for grading the severity and its outcome in these patients is widely advocated despite caveats to its use with septicemia and conditions like shock being cited as a major confounding factor. The value of serum uric acid may be erroneous in those with septicemia and its sequelae, thus mandating its evaluation. The objective of this study was to identify a correlation between severity of sepsis & outcome of patients and the derangement of uric acid levels in an adult population.

Material: The present study was conducted on patients with a diagnosis of sepsis admitted in the Department of General Medicine of KLES Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre from January 2019 to December 2020. Relevant data was collected by a detailed interview with the patient, clinical examination and blood investigations. The patients were categorized into tcategories of severity of sepsis, as per the patient's procalcitonin values. Serum uric acid levels were measured and recorded and a correlation of severity of different types of sepsis with the outcome was studied. Statistical tests such as Chi Square test and ANOVA were used for analysis.

Observation: In the 79 septicemic patients, age ranged from 18-88 years. The number of male patients was slightly more than females. The commonest symptom of patient presentation was generalized weakness, and the most common sign was pallor. Majority of our patients were found to have severe septicemia with shock. We observed higher levels of serum uric acid levels in patients with severe sepsis. There was higher mortality observed in patients with severe sepsis. There was an observed correlation between consumption of alcohol and the outcome of patient, mostly leading to mortrality.

Conclusion: Uric acid levels in patients with septicemia may be affected by variables such as age, sex, chronic illnesses or drugs. We feel it is worthwhile to study these confounding factors with large sample sizes for ascertaining a correlation of uric acid levels with sepsis and the outcome of patients considering these variables.