Point-of-Care Lactate for Sepsis Detection: Reconsidering Accuracy, Precision, and Concordance Criteria

Abstract Point-of-care (POC) lactate is widely used in hospital “bundles” for the early detection of sepsis. There is evidence that rapid measurement of lactate in this context improves patient outcome. Many POC lactate methods have acceptable accuracy, precision, and clinical concordance for use in sepsis screening. Point-of-care whole-blood lactate demonstrates systematic negative bias compared with plasma lactate, and therefore POC whole-blood and plasma lactate should not be used interchangeably in patients with elevated lactate levels.