ObjectiveTo study the correlation between lactate/albumin ratio level and incidence of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) as well as mortality in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.MethodsIn January 2012September 2013, 54 patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit(ICU) of a hospital developed severe sepsis and septic shock on the first day of admission, clinical data of patients were analyzed. ResultsOn the first and second days of admission, 30（55.56%）and 26（53.06%）patients developed MODS；lactate/albumin ratio between MODS group and nonMODS group on the first and second days of admission were both significantly different (both P＜0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that lactate/albumin ratio, oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2), as well as acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE Ⅱ) were independent risk factors for predicting MODS in patients with severe sepsis. Lactate/albumin ratios between MODS group and nonMODS group, death group and nondeath group were both significantly different (both P＜0.05); lactate/albumin ratio was correlated with APACHE Ⅱand PaO2/FiO2, the higher the APACHE Ⅱ score and the lower the PaO2/FiO2, the higher of lactate/albumin ratio. The area under the receiver operating curve (ROC curve) analysis showed that incidence and mortality of MODS on the first day of admission predicted by lactate /albumin ratio were 0.85 and 0.84 respectively; sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of occurrence of MODS predicted by lactate /albumin ratio＞1.735 were 80.00%, 79.17%, 82.67%, and 75.92% respectively, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of mortality were 100.00%, 51.02%, 17.23%, and 100.00% respectively. ConclusionLactate/albumin ratio level is closely correlated with incidence and mortality of MODS in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.