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Combined measurement of serum albumin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol strongly predicts mortality in frail older nursing-home residents

  • Section on Longitudinal Studies
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Abstract

Background and aims: The aim of this study was to verify the hypothesis that a combined measurement of albumin and HDL-C might predict total mortality in institutionalized frail older residents. Methods: Participants were 344 older subjects (272 F, 72 M), living in the “Istituto Riposo Anziani” (I.R.A.), a nursing-home located in Padova, North-east Italy. Functional status, comorbidity, and clinical chemistry parameters were evaluated at entry. All-cause mortality was evaluated after 2 and 4 years. The sample was divided into 4 groups by using the 50° percentile of albumin and HDL-C as cut-off value. The mortality odds ratio (OR) was estimated by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Total mortality was 36.8% after 2 years and 51.8% after four years. A trend toward an increase in mortality from group 1 to 4 was observed (p for trend: 0.01). The OR for 2 and 4 years mortality was 3.83 (95% CI 1.86–7.58) and 2.66 (95% CI 1.37–5.17), respectively, in group 4 compared with group 1, after adjustment for age, gender, number of chronic diseases, functional status, BMI, diabetes, dementia, stroke, CHD, CHF, hypertension, depression, COPD, and total cholesterol levels. Conclusions: Among frail older nursing-home residents, simple measurement of serum albumin and HDL-C levels may be useful in identifying varying degrees of frailty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Internal Medicine, Gerontology and Geriatrics, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Italy

    Giovanni Zuliani MD, PhD, Stefano Volpato & Renato Fellin

  2. Istituto di Riposo per Anziani (I.R.A.), Padova, Italy

    Franco Romagnoni, Lucia Soattin, Cristina Bollini & Vincenzo Leoci

Authors
  1. Giovanni Zuliani MD, PhD
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  2. Stefano Volpato
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  3. Franco Romagnoni
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  4. Lucia Soattin
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  5. Cristina Bollini
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  6. Vincenzo Leoci
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  7. Renato Fellin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Zuliani MD, PhD.

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Zuliani, G., Volpato, S., Romagnoni, F. et al. Combined measurement of serum albumin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol strongly predicts mortality in frail older nursing-home residents. Aging Clin Exp Res 16, 472–475 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327404

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327404

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