Evaluation of serum albumin as a risk factor formortality in patients with sepsis admitted to ICU

One of the major challenges in intensive care unit (ICU) patients is sepsis. The incidence of sepsis in patients admitted to the ICU has been reported from 13.6-39.3%. Many factors affect patient mortality, including acute phase proteins such as albumin.

The present study was a retrospective study in which patients with a diagnosis of sepsis referred to Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz from March to August were collected. In the present study, patients with sepsis admitted to the ICU who did not show improvement for more than 7 days were evaluated for length of hospital stay, survival and the relationship with albumin levels. During the study, albumin was checked every 72 hours and its validation was done. Based on albumin levels less than 2.6, they were treated with albumin. The patients who did not have an increase in the level of albumin remained in the study.

124 patients including 64 women (51.6) and 60 men (48.4) with a mean age of 66.4±15.4 were included in the study. The mean duration of hospitalization was 31.4±18.9 days, in which 24 patients (19.4%) died and 100 patients (80.6%) were discharged. Age, albumin and protein levels were associated with disease prognosis (P<0.001). Also, the duration of hospitalization in the deceased patients was longer than the recovered patients (27.7±25 vs. 32±17.1) (P=0.04). After further investigations, it was found that there is no difference between the deceased people (66±15.7) and the recovered people (67.7±14.1) (P=0.7).

The results of the present study showed that albumin has a direct effect on the severity of sepsis and this issue affects older patients more. Therefore, it is recommended that albumin be considered as a risk factor and one of the influential factors in choosing the best treatment strategy, which is associated with a reduction in mortality, hospitalization and treatment costs.