title: Does serum albumin and creatinine predict survival of inpatient palliative care patients?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low creatinine and albumin are found among the chronically ill patients. This study retrospectively reviewed albumin and creatinine levels for survival in patients upon admission.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of patients admitted over 2 months were reviewed. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) identified cutpoints in albumin and creatinine that predicted survival. Kaplan-Meier survival, Cox proportional hazards, and stepwise Cox analyses identified prognostic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 83 patients, 81 were assessable. Variables for worse survival were albumin <3.1 g/dL, creatinine >0.93 mg/dL, and male gender. Albumin by continuous, median, RPA, and tertiles was significant; creatinine by RPA. Hazard ratio for albumin >3.1 was 0.28 (P < .001) and for creatinine >0.91 mg/dL was 1.8 (P = .046).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Albumin and creatinine are prognostically important.
authors.affiliation: Palliative Medicine and Supportive Oncology Services, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Aye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aung
authors.affiliation: Palliative Medicine and Supportive Oncology Services, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Shukri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alqudihy
authors.affiliation: Palliative Medicine and Supportive Oncology Services, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rybicki
authors.affiliation: Palliative Medicine and Supportive Oncology Services, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Platt
authors.affiliation: Palliative Medicine and Supportive Oncology Services, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH, USA Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA Cleveland Clinic Palliative Medicine Clinical Fellowship Program, Cleveland clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA davism6@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Mellar P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis*; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D003404:Creatinine
keywords: albumin; creatinine; palliative; prognosis; retrospective; survival