Letter to the Editor
Usefulness of serum albumin concentration for in-hospital risk stratification in frail, elderly patients with acute heart failure. Insights from a prospective, monocenter study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.07.094Get rights and content

Abstract

The present study examined the usefulness of serum albumin concentration measured immediately after clinical stabilization for in-hospital risk stratification in 64 consecutive elderly, institutionalized patients with definite evidence of acute heart failure, of whom 17 died during their in-hospital stay. Serum albumin concentration was a powerful predictor of in-hospital death in this clinical setting (hazard ratio of 0.80 [0.71–0.89], p < 0.001). A serum albumin concentration of < 3 g/dl (median value) had a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 68% for the prediction of in-hospital mortality. Furthermore, this biomarker was able to provide incremental prognostic information over usual prognostic variables obtained at presentation such as age, systolic blood pressure and blood urea nitrogen.

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