ArticleFrontiers in medicine2026
Association between blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio and mortality risk in critically ill patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia: a retrospective study.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 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
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a frequent complication of mechanical ventilation that increases mortality and strains healthcare resources. The blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio (UCR) is a readily available marker of renal function and hydration status. We investigated the association between UCR and short-term mortality in critically ill patients with VAP. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from the MIMIC-IV database and included 2,037 patients with VAP admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Patients were categorized into three groups according to tertiles of the blood urea nitrogen-to-creatinine ratio (UCR; T1-T3). Baseline characteristics, laboratory findings, comorbidities, and clinical outcomes were collected within the first 24 h after ICU admission. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality at 30 and 60 days post-admission. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariable Cox regression were used to assess the relationship between UCR and mortality, and a restricted cubic spline analysis was performed to explore non-linear associations. Results: The median UCR among the 2,037 patients was 22.09. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significant differences in survival across UCR tertiles (log-rank Conclusion: In the primary cohort, the highest UCR tertile remained associated with higher 30-day mortality after full adjustment, whereas the lowest tertile did not. In the sensitivity model additionally conditioning on first-24-h KDIGO stage and non-renal SOFA, T3 remained associated with mortality (HR 1.68, 95% CI 1.28-2.22), while T1 did not (HR 1.18, 95% CI 0.87-1.60). Adding UCR did not significantly improve cross-validated discrimination beyond SOFA (ΔAUC 0.021, 95% CI -0.004 to 0.045) or SAPS II (ΔAUC -0.001, 95% CI -0.015 to 0.014). UCR should therefore be interpreted as an associative risk marker rather than a causal or treatment target.
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.