Objective
Incident acute kidney injury (AKI) and prevalent chronic kidney disease (CKD) are commonly encountered in septic patients. We examined the differential effect of AKI and CKD on the association between cumulative fluid balance (CFB) and hospital mortality in critically ill septic patients.
Design
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting
Urban academic medical center ICU.
Patients
ICU adult patients with severe sepsis or septic shock and serum creatinine measured within 3 months prior to and 72 h of ICU admission. Patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate <15 mL/min/1.73m2 or receiving chronic dialysis were excluded.
Interventions
None.
Measurements and Main Results
2632 patients, 1211 with CKD, were followed until hospital death or discharge. AKI occurred in 1525 (57.9%), of whom 679 (44.5%) had CKD. Hospital mortality occurred in 603 (22.9%) patients. Every 1 L increase in CFB at 72 h of ICU admission was independently associated with hospital mortality in all patients, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.06, 95% CI (1.04–1.08), p <0.001, and in each AKI/CKD subgroup: aOR 1.06 (1.03–1.09) for AKI+/CKD+; 1.09 (1.05–1.13) for AKI−/CKD+; 1.05 (1.03–1.08) for AKI+/CKD−; and 1.07 (1.02–1.11) for AKI−/CKD−. There was a significant interaction between AKI and CKD on CFB, p =0.005, such that different CFB cut-offs with the best prognostic accuracy for hospital mortality were identified: 5.9 L for AKI+/CKD+; 3.8 L for AKI−/CKD+; 4.3 L for AKI+/CKD−; and 1.5 L for AKI−/CKD−. The addition of CFB to the admission SOFA score had increased prognostic utility for hospital mortality when compared to SOFA alone, particularly in patients with AKI.
Conclusions
Higher CFB at 72 h of ICU admission was independently associated with hospital mortality regardless of AKI or CKD presence. We characterized CFB cut-offs associated with hospital mortality based on AKI/CKD status, underpinning the heterogeneity of fluid regulation in sepsis and kidney disease.