APPLIED MEDICINE: CLINICAL PATHOLOGY AND DERMATOLOGY
72, and 120 hours after admission. [LAC] changes over time ([LAC]) were calculated between sam- pling points.
3. Results
Nonsurvivors had significantly greater [LAC]AD- MIT, [LAC] 24 hours, and [LAC] 48 hours compared with surviving foals (P 0.001). [LAC] in nonsur- viving foals did not decrease over time, whereas survivors showed significant positive [LAC] be- tween [LAC]ADMIT through 24 hours and all other time periods (P 0.001). Logistic regression anal- ysis showed that the odds of survival decreased for each 1 mmol/L [LAC] increase at all time points for all sick foals, independent of major final diagnoses
as potential confounders. Septic foals showed sig- nificantly greater [LAC] at all time points compared with nonseptic foals (P 0.001). [LAC] in septic foals was significantly more positive (suggesting bet- ter clearance) at [LAC]ADMIT through 24 hours and [LAC] 72 through 96 hours (P 0.01), whereas in nonseptic foals, [LAC] was significantly positive between [LAC]ADMIT through 24 hours compared with all other time periods (P 0.001).
4. Discussion
L-lactate metabolism is impaired in nonsurviving and septic foals, and [LAC] can be used to identify patients that are at high risk for mortality.
