Background
Several recent studies have shown that neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) may be a promising biomarker for the early detection of acute kidney injury (AKI), but the role of NGAL in predicting adverse clinical outcomes has not been well addressed. The
Conclusion
This study could suggest that urine NGAL, a new early biomarker might also be served as a reliable clinical outcome predictor in AKI patients.
Methods
This was a prospective cohort study enrolling hospitalized AKI patients. Patients were divided into four groups according to initial urine NGAL excretion quartiles. The primary clinical outcome variables were in-hospital mortality and renal function at 4 weeks.
Results
Initial urine NGAL was identified as an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality and persistent loss of renal function. In the analysis of predictive performance of urine NGAL, the AUC was 0.882 and a cutoff value of 298.28 ng/ml predicted loss of renal function with 88.2% sensitivity and 81.0% specificity.