CRP/albumin ratio as an early marker of mortality in acute pancreatitis

A retrospective analysis

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis is a rapidly progressive digestive disorder with a high degree of morbidity and mortality. The severity scales tend to be hard to measure, and thus a simple, rapid and accessible parameter is needed.

Objective: to establish the C-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/albumin) ratio as an early marker of mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis hospitalized at Hospital Luis Vernaza (2018-2019).

Design: an analytical retrospective case series.

Population: a total of 220 cases of adults with acute pancreatitis who had an albumin and Creactive protein test on admission to the hospital were included. Data analysis: to determine if the CRP/albumin ratio is an early predictor of mortality, univariate and bivariate analyses were run on the variables, a cutoff point was obtained and the predictive power was determined through logistic regression, according to the statistical significance (p<0.05)

Results: The median CRP/albumin ratio was 42.02, and a cutoff point ≥40 (95% CI 1.20-29.26) was found to be a predictor of mortality, with a p value of 0.029. The average age was 43.47 years, and the female sex predominated with 70% of the cases. The most frequent comorbidity was HTN, with 16.5% of the cases. The mean APACHE II was 6.26, the mean BISAP was 1.43, and the mortality rate was 4.50%. The median hospital stay was 25.2 days, and 15% were admitted to the ICU. There was a positive correlation between APACHE II and the CRP/albumin ratio, with p <0.001, with a similar significance for BISAP