Key result
Perioperative biomarkers including NLR and CAR are not associated with short-term postoperative ICU mortality.
Why the study?
Postoperative ICU admission is commonly considered for patients perceived to be at increased risk of complications, motivating characterization of their preoperative and perioperative profiles and associations between routine clinical parameters, inflammatory biomarkers, and short-term outcomes.
Do routinely available clinical parameters and inflammatory biomarkers (NLR, CAR) predict short-term outcomes such as mortality in adult patients admitted to a postoperative ICU?
Observational (n=126)
No
Do routinely available clinical parameters and inflammatory biomarkers (NLR, CAR) predict short-term outcomes such as mortality in adult patients admitted to a postoperative ICU?
In this small prospective cohort of postoperative ICU patients, routine preoperative and perioperative parameters, including NLR and CAR, were not significantly associated with short-term mortality, though statistical power was severely limited by having only two death events.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Low mortality in this postoperative ICU cohort warrants no practice change; leaves open biomarker prognostic value pending larger studies.
Postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) admission is commonly considered for patients perceived to be at increased risk of postoperative complications. This study aimed to describe the preoperative and perioperative characteristics of patients admitted to a postoperative ICU and to explore associations between routinely available clinical parameters, inflammatory biomarkers, and short-term outcomes. This prospective observational study included 126 adult patients admitted postoperatively to a tertiary reanimation ICU. Demographic characteristics, comorbidities, ASA physical status, anesthesia type, laboratory parameters, postoperative organ support requirements, ICU length of stay, and mortality were recorded. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) were evaluated. Continuous and categorical variables were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test and chi-square or Fisher exact test, as appropriate. The mean age was 67.3 ± 16.1 years, and 114 (90.5%) patients were classified as ASA III. Abdominal surgery was the most common surgical category (56, 44.4%). Mean NLR and CAR values were 6.17 ± 8.36 and 1.17 ± 2.52, respectively. Two patients died (1.6%; exact 95% CI, 0.2–5.6%). Mortality was not significantly associated with NLR ( P = .310), CAR ( P = .845), admission SpO 2 ( P = .084), or hemoglobin level ( P = .907). ICU length of stay showed an exploratory association with mortality ( P = .004); given that only 2 deaths occurred, this observation cannot establish a prognostic relationship. In this selected postoperative ICU cohort, preoperative and perioperative characteristics did not clearly distinguish patients according to short-term outcomes. Because there was no non-ICU comparator cohort and mortality events were very limited, the findings should be interpreted cautiously. Larger multicenter studies are needed to evaluate whether these parameters can support postoperative ICU admission decisions.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Kalkan et al. (2026) conducted an observational in Postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) admission (n=126). Preoperative and perioperative clinical parameters and inflammatory biomarkers (NLR, CAR) was evaluated on Short-term mortality (95% CI 0.2-5.6%, p=.310). Preoperative and perioperative parameters, including NLR and CAR, were not associated with short-term mortality in postoperative ICU patients.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: