title: Is serum albumin a good marker for malnutrition in the physically impaired elderly?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tusruma-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. kuzuya@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuzuya
authors.forename: Sachiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izawa
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Enoki
authors.forename: Kiwako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Akihisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iguchi
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012709:Serum Albumin; D002784:Cholesterol