Objective To investigate the correlation and value assessment of the lactate (LAC) to albumin (ALB) ratio (LAR) in patients with sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC).

Methods A retrospective study was conducted to collect the basic data of patients with sepsis and indicators of LAC and ALB at the first admission. The LAR and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score within 24 hours were calculated. The primary outcome of the study was whether sepsis progressed to SIC, and the secondary outcome was whether disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) occurred during hospitalization. The patients were divided into the SIC group and non-sic group based on whether SIC occurred on the first day of admission. The risk factors influencing the occurrence of SIC in patients with sepsis were analyzed, and the predictive value of LAR for the occurrence of SIC in patients with sepsis was evaluated.

Results A total of 120 patients were included, and the incidence of SIC was 27.5%. The differences in the white blood cell count (WBC), ALB, effective osmotic pressure of plasma, whether there was pulmonary infection or urinary tract infection, SOFA score, incidence of LAC, LAR and DIC occurrence between two groups were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05 to P ＜ 0.01). The LAR score was positively correlated with the SIC score and the SOFA score (P ＜ 0.01). The AUC of LAR was 0.721 (95%CI: 0.611–0.842, P ＜ 0.05), the optimal cut-off value was 8.61%, the sensitivity was 66.7%, and the specificity was 81.6%. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of SIC in the LAR ≥ 9.67% group was significantly higher than that in the LAR ≤ 4.65% group (P ＜ 0.01).

Conclusions The LAR increasing is a risk factor for the occurrence of SIC in patients with sepsis. Controlling the increase of LAR can reduce the risk of SIC.