Association of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic index with all-cause mortality during hospitalization in critically ill patients: a retrospective cohort study from MIMIC IV2.2

Background The cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic index (CKMI), a novel functional indicator proposed in this study, aims to accurately reflect the functional status of the heart, kidneys, and metabolism. However, its ability to predict mortality risk in critically ill patients during their stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) remains uncertain. Therefore, this study aims to validate the correlation between the CKMI during hospitalization and all-cause mortality. Methods The study utilized the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV 2.2 (MIMIC-IV) dataset for a retrospective analysis of cohorts. The cohorts were divided into quartiles based on CKMI index levels. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality during ICU and hospital stay, while secondary endpoints included the duration of ICU stay and overall hospitalization period. We established Cox proportional hazards models and employed multivariable Cox regression analysis and restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression analysis to explore the relationship between CKMI index and all-cause mortality during hospitalization in critically ill patients. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted based on different subgroups. Results The study enrolled 1,576 patients (male 60.79%). In-patient and ICU mortality was 11.55% and 6.73%. Multivariate COX regression analysis demonstrated a significant negative correlation between CKMI index and the risk of hospital death [HR, 0.26 (95% CI 0.07–0.93), P = 0.038] and ICU mortality [HR, 0.13 (95% CI 0.03–0.67), P = 0.014].RCS regression model revealed that in-hospital mortality ( P -value =0.015, P-Nonlinear =0.459) and ICU mortality ( P -value =0.029, P-Nonlinear =0.432) increased linearly with increasing CKMI index. Subgroup analysis confirmed consistent effect size and direction across different subgroups, ensuring stable results. Conclusion Our research findings suggest that a higher CKMI index is associated with a significant reduction in both in-hospital and ICU mortality among critically ill patients. Therefore, CKMI index emerges as a highly valuable prognostic indicator for predicting the risk of in-hospital death in this population. However, to strengthen the validity of these results, further validation through larger-scale prospective studies is imperative.