Roles of the Ratio of C-Reactive Protein to Serum and Pericardial Fluid Albumin Levels in Predicting in-Hospital Mortality in Patients Undergoing Pericardiocentesis

Background: Pericardial effusions occur due to excessive fluid accumulation in the pericardial space. In effusions not responding to medical treatment, pericardiocentesis is an important method of treatment affecting prognosis. CRP/albumin ratios have been found to be associated with prognosis in conditions such as cardiac failure, sepsis, malignancy; and the routine available parameters used for the prognosis prediction of the patients who underwent pericardiocentesis are limited. In this study, we aimed to examine the usability of CRP/albumin and CRP/pericardial fluid albumin (CRP/pf-albumin) ratios as predictors for in-hospital mortality of patients who underwent pericardiocentesis. Methods: This study included 54 patients (25 females and 29 males). All patients underwent pericardiocentesis. Results: The average age was 67±14 years. When the groups were compared with each other, CRP, CRP/albumin ratio and CRP/pf-Albumin ratio were higher in the in-hospital mortality group compared to the group discharged with recovery [19 (14-25), 6.3 (1-30), p<0.001; 4.27 (3.87-12.02), 1.9 (0.24-10.38), p<0.001; 7 (6.25-13.59), 2.5 (0.28-12.22), p<0.001, respectively]. In the univariate logistic regression analysis, CRP (odds ratio [OR]: 0.821, P: 0.004, 95.0% confidence interval [CI]: 0.918-1.049), CRP/albumin ratio (OR: 0.600, P: 0.011, 95.0% CI: 0.406-0.888) and CRP/pf-Albumin ratio (OR: 0.608, P: 0.004, 95.0% CI: 0.431-0.856) was found to be associated with in-hospital mortality in patients who underwent pericardiocentesis. Conclusion: For the first time in the literature, we demonstrated that CRP/albumin and CRP/pf-Albumin ratios are associated with in-hospital mortalities in patients who underwent pericardiocentesis, irrespective of the etiology.