Fig. 1.
Diagram describing the calculation of lactate load and normalized lactate load. Each “T” on the x-axis represents the chart time of lactate measurement, while the corresponding “Lac” represents the corresponding lactate values. Lactate load was calculated as: ((Lac1 + Lac0)/2)) * (T1 - T0) + ((Lac2 + Lac1)/2)) * (T2 - T1) + … + ((Lac24 + LacN)/2)) * (T24 - TN). Where the T0 represents ICU admission time, and the corresponding Lac0 was defined as equals to Lac1. Similarly, Lac24 (lactate value at 24 h after admission) was defined as equals to LacN, where the LacN represents the last measured lactate value in the 24 h. Normalized lactate load was calculated as lactate load divided by (T24 – T0), which actually equals to 24 h