title: Serum albumin level on admission as a predictor of death, length of stay, and readmission.
abstract: We studied the serum albumin level within 48 hours of hospitalization for acute illness to predict in-hospital death, length of stay, and readmission in 15,511 patients older than 40 years. Patients with low serum albumin levels (less than 34 g/L), who made up 21% of the population, were more likely to die, had longer hospital stays, and were readmitted sooner and more frequently than patients with normal albumin levels. The in-hospital mortality was 14% among patients with low albumin levels, as compared with 4% among patients with normal levels. Although the serum albumin level was a nonspecific marker, it was a stronger predictor of death, length of stay, and readmission than age. We conclude that the serum albumin level on admission is an important variable that should be incorporated in severity-of-illness measures based on physiologic indexes.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Computing, Boston, MA 02115.
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Safran
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Levkoff
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Minaker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000737:chemistry; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012709:Serum Albumin