Pickup L, Loutradis C, Law JP, et al. - Given that acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospital-admitted patients represents a common complication related to elevated mortality, and AKI diagnosis depends on determination of peak rise in serum creatinine (SCr), so, researchers herein assessed the incidence of AKI using the increment from mean 7–365 days pre-admission (AKI_pre) and admission (AKI_adm) SCr concentrations, as well as evaluated the links of AKI and alterations in SCr levels with all-cause death. Fully adjusted regression analysis revealed an association of AKI_pre and AKI_adm with 30-day mortality. Findings showed that similar incidence rates were obtained by using admission or pre-admission SCr, but they diagnosed different sets of patients. Increased mortality was observed in relation to even minor rises in SCr, below those needed for the classification of AKI. These data can assist clinicians to recognize patients at higher risk for adverse results.