Clinical utility of standard base excess in the diagnosis and interpretation of metabolic acidosis in critically ill patients

Abstract

The aims of this study were to determine whether standard base excess (SBE) is a useful diagnostic tool for metabolic acidosis, whether metabolic acidosis is clinically relevant in daily evaluation of critically ill patients, and to identify the most robust acid-base determinants of SBE. Thirty-one critically ill patients were enrolled. Arterial blood samples were drawn at admission and 24 h later. SBE, as calculated by Van Slyke's (SBEVS) or Wooten's (SBEW) equations, accurately diagnosed metabolic acidosis (AUC = 0.867, 95%Cl = 0.690-1.043 and AUC = 0.817, 95%Cl = 0.634-0.999, respectively). SBEVS was weakly correlated with total SOFA (r= -0 454, P < 0.001) and was similar to SBEW (r = -0.482, P < 0.001). All acid-base variables were categorized as SBEVS