Serum albumin as a risk factor for death in patients with prolonged sepsis: An observational study

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate an association between nutritional biomarkers and prognosis in septic patients. METHODS: We retrospectively searched the association between nutritional biomarkers including serum albumin (Alb), total protein (TP), total cholesterol (T-chol), and cholinesterase (ChE), and prognosis for septic patients treated in the ICU for >7 days. We used time-dependent Cox proportional hazard regression analysis to resolve the difference of the statistical weight of each day's data for all 14 consecutive days among individual sepsis patients. The covariates were based on the minimum moving values determined from 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, and 14 days of serial data. The values of these covariates and ICU survival were considered as outcomes. RESULTS: We included 136 septic patients. The decreases in the values of Alb, TP, T-chol, and ChE were significantly associated with the risk of death in the septic patients (p < .05). Especially, the daily changes of Alb were significantly associated with mortality during the ICU stay (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: We found that the changes in serial data of the nutritional markers of Alb, TP, T-chol, and ChE reflected the higher risk of death in patients with prolonged sepsis.