Peak Lactate‐to‐Albumin Ratio at Admission: An Effective Predictor for 28‐Day All‐Cause Mortality in Patients With Influenza A Pneumonia

Objective Easily accessible predictors of early mortality and complications in influenza A pneumonia remain inadequately defined. This investigation was undertaken to determine the prognostic significance of the lactate‐to‐albumin ratio (LAR) for 28‐day all‐cause mortality among hospitalized patients with influenza A pneumonia. Methods We performed a retrospective study encompassing 105 individuals with confirmed influenza A pneumonia. The principal outcome measure was 28‐day all‐cause mortality. Clinical parameters differentiating survivors from nonsurvivors were systematically evaluated through Cox analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Results LAR was identified as an independent prognostic indicator for 28‐day mortality in patients with influenza A pneumonia. The area under curve value for LAR in predicting 28‐day mortality exceeded those of lactate and albumin individually. LAR achieved diagnostic sensitivity and specificity values of 84.4% and 86.7%, respectively, for 28‐day mortality prediction. The LAR levels deviated only slightly in survivors but remained elevated during the first week of admission in the nonsurvivors. Compared with patients with low LAR (< 50.91 × 10 −3 ), those with high LAR (≥ 50.91 × 10 −3 ) had significantly ( p < 0.001) higher incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome and extrapulmonary complications as well as significantly shorter survivals ( p < 0.001). Conclusion Elevated LAR exhibits significant correlation with unfavorable clinical complications and constitutes a highly effective prognostic biomarker for 28‐day mortality in influenza A pneumonia. The integration of LAR into clinical practice may facilitate early risk stratification and enhance disease surveillance.