ArticleFrontiers in nutrition2026
Preoperative lactate dehydrogenase-to-albumin ratio as a nutrition-inflammation index associated with postoperative pneumonia after McKeown esophagectomy: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in Frontiers in nutrition, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Postoperative pneumonia is a frequent and clinically consequential complication after esophagectomy. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)-to-albumin ratio (LAR) integrates LDH-associated metabolic-inflammatory burden and albumin-associated nutritional-inflammatory reserve, but its association with postoperative pneumonia after McKeown esophagectomy remains unclear. This study evaluated whether preoperative LAR is associated with postoperative pneumonia in a clinically homogeneous, surgery-first cohort. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 467 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer who underwent curative-intent McKeown esophagectomy without neoadjuvant therapy between January 2022 and December 2024. LAR was calculated from LDH and albumin levels measured within 7 days before surgery and was analyzed primarily as a continuous variable. ROC-derived binary LAR was retained as a supplementary sensitivity analysis. The primary endpoint was postoperative pneumonia within 30 days. Discrimination was assessed using ROC analysis and DeLong's test. Associations were evaluated using staged multivariable logistic regression analyses, restricted cubic spline analyses, decision curve analyses, subgroup and timing analyses, and LDH-albumin joint-effect analyses. Results: Postoperative pneumonia occurred in 147 of 467 patients (31.5%). The median onset time was postoperative day (POD) 6 [interquartile range (IQR), 4-9], and 98 events (66.7%) occurred within the first postoperative week. LAR showed good discrimination for postoperative pneumonia (AUC = 0.803), with an optimal Youden index cutoff of 5.855. Continuous LAR remained independently associated with postoperative pneumonia after full adjustment [Model 3 odds ratio (OR) per one-unit increase, 2.568; 95% CI, 2.085-3.163; Conclusion: Preoperative LAR was independently associated with postoperative pneumonia after McKeown esophagectomy when analyzed as a continuous nutrition-inflammation index. LAR may support perioperative risk stratification and early postoperative surveillance, but the internally derived threshold requires external validation before its clinical generalization.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.