Prevalence of hypoalbuminemia and nutritional issues in hospitalized elders

OBJECTIVE: to estimate the prevalence of hypoalbuminemia in hospitalized elders, related to socio-demographic variables, nutritional status and length of stay. METHODS: crosscutting study with 200 patients hospitalized in a large hospital in the South of Brazil during three months. Evaluations, lab tests and interviews through questionnaires were performed. RESULTS: the average albuminemia was 2,9 ± 0,5g/dL. Hypoalbuminemia was diagnosed in 173 subjects (87%) and was absent in 27 (13%) that have normal albuminemia (p=0,000). After six days of hospitalization, the prevalence of low levels grew significantly to 90% (p=0,002), average 2,7 ± 0,5g/dL. Using the Mini Nutritional Assessment, it was observed that 41 patients were malnourished and from those, 40 had hypoalbuminemia. CONCLUSION: the prevalence of hypoalbuminemia proved to be high, in approx. nine in ten elders, and the nutritional status and the length of stay proved to be related to the decrease of serum albumin levels. Thus, it is suggested that monitoring albumin levels should be done to evaluate the risk that the patient has to develop malnutrition and other complications during hospital stays.