Is serum albumin a good marker for malnutrition in the physically impaired elderly?
OBJECTIVE
Although serum albumin is well known as a marker of nutritional status, it has remained unclear whether impaired physical function affects serum albumin concentrations in older people. We examined whether hypoalbuminemia can be used as a marker of malnutrition in elderly subjects with various levels of physical impairment.


METHODS
A total of 262 elderly subjects without acute illness were enrolled from various geriatric settings. For the nutritional assessment, serum albumin, total cholesterol, anthropometric measurements, and subjective global assessment (SGA) were determined. Physical function was evaluated by rating score of activity of daily living (ADL).


RESULTS
As a whole, participants' serum albumin levels correlated with various nutritional parameters including anthropometric measurements and levels of serum total cholesterol as well as the SGA evaluation. However, after adjusting for age and gender, serum albumin levels in participants with a low ADL function did not correlate with nutritional parameters. Approximately 80% participants with low ADL function who were evaluated as being well nourished according to SGA evaluation had serum albumin levels lower than 35 g/l.


CONCLUSIONS
The utility of serum albumin and the traditional cutoff (35 g/l) in older people with low ADL function is questionable even among those without inflammation.
Kuzuya
Masafumi
M
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tusruma-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. kuzuya@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Izawa
Sachiko
S
Enoki
Hiromi
H
Okada
Kiwako
K
Iguchi
Akihisa
A
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012709:Serum Albumin
D015415:Biomarkers; D012709:Serum Albumin; D002784:Cholesterol