PenKid measurement at admission is associated with outcome in severely ill burn patients

Abstract Background Proenkephalin A 119–159 (penKid) has been proposed as a sensitive biomarker of renal function. This study evaluated the association of concentrations of plasma penKid with death and risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) in severely ill burn patients. Methods A prospective observational study in two centers with severely ill adult burn patients was conducted. The inclusion criteria were total body surface area (TBSA) burns >15%, with burn injury occurring Results A total of 113 consecutive patients were enrolled. The median age was 48 years (Interquartile range [IQR] 33–64), the median burn TBSA was 35% (IQR 25–53), and 90-day mortality was 31.9%. Thirty-one percent of the patients had AKI, and 41.6% of patients had the combined endpoint. There was a stepwise decrease in survival from patients without AKI, sub-AKI, and with AKI (survival rate 90.0% [95% CI 82.7–97.9], 66.7% [95% CI 48.1–92.4], and 31.4% [95% CI 19.3–51.3], respectively, p Conclusions Plasma penKid concentration at admission was associated with an increased risk of death in burn patients. PenKid has additional prognostic value on top of Screat and SOFA to predict 90-day mortality.