Serum lactate levels have been widely studied as a prognostic marker in critically ill patients, particularly those in the intensive care unit. However, it remains unknown whether the serum lactate levels affect the mortality rate of critically ill patients admitted to hospital. To investigate this hypothesis, the vital signs and blood gas analysis data of 1,393 critically ill patients who visited the Emergency Department of Affiliated Kunshan Hospital of Jiangsu University (Kunshan, China) between January and December 2021 were collected. Patients were divided into two groups, 30‑day survival group and a 30‑day death group, and logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between vital signs, laboratory results and mortality rates of critically ill patients. A total of 1,393 critically ill patients was enrolled in the present study, with a male‑to‑female ratio of 1.17:1.00, a mean age of 67.72±19.29 years and a mortality rate of 11.6%. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that increased serum lactate levels were an independent risk factor for mortality rate of critically ill patients [Odds ratio (OR)=1.50, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.40‑1.62]. The critical cut‑off value for the serum lactate levels was identified as 2.35 mmol/l. In addition, OR values of age, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, transcutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) and hemoglobin were 1.02, 1.01, 0.99, 0.96 and 0.99, respectively (95% CI: 1.01‑1.04, 1.00‑1.02, 0.98‑0.99, 0.94‑0.98 and 0.98‑1.00, respectively). The logistic regression model was found to be of value in terms of identifying the mortality rate of patients and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.894 (95% CI: 0.863‑0.925; P<0.001). In conclusion, the present study showed that high serum lactate levels in critically ill patients upon admission to hospital are associated with higher 30‑day mortality rate.

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