Predictive Value Of Base Excess For Mortality in Methanol Intoxication

INTRODUCTION: Methanol intoxications are among the common reasons for emergency department admissions, apart from suicide attempts. In this study, we aimed to investigate the predictive value of Base Excess (BE) for methanol-related mortality and its potential use in clinical practice.
METHODS: All cases with a confirmed diagnosis of methanol intoxication in an 8-year retrospective study were included. Cases with in-hospital mortality were included in the mortality group. Blood gas and biochemical parameters of the patients were recorded. ROC and regression analyses were performed for variables with significant differences between groups.
RESULTS: We found that pH, HCO3, and BE were statistically significantly lower, while lactate levels were significantly higher in the mortality group. According to the cut-off values of the independent variables, we determined the AUC values as 0.852, 0.855, 0.900, and 0.708, respectively. We found that the BE value of <-23.65 had the highest sensitivity, specificity, and OR values (sens: 86.4%, spec: 89.47%, OR: 0.780 [%95CI; 0.656-0.929]).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We suggest that BE values can be useful for clinicians in prioritizing patients in mass emergency department admissions such as methanol intoxications.