Prognostic Value of Serum Albumin at Admission for Neurologic Outcome with Targeted Temperature Management after Cardiac Arrest

INTRODUCTION: It is well known that hypoalbuminemia is associated with adverse outcomes in various critical illnesses. However, there are few studies specifically measuring the association between albumin level and neurologic outcomes after CA treated with TTM. The aim of this study was to assess whether serum albumin concentration on admission had prognostic value for OHCA patients treated with TTM. METHODS: We included adult patients aged ≥18 years with nontraumatic OHCA treated with TTM whose serum albumin concentration was available and who were admitted from 2009 to 2016. Serum albumin was measured within 1 h after ROSC, and hypoalbuminemia was defined as admission serum albumin <3.5 g/dl. A good neurologic outcome was defined as a cerebral performance category score of 1 or 2 at 6 months. RESULTS: A total of 255 patients were eligible for analysis, of whom 106 (41.6%) survived to 6 months; 84 (32.9%) of these patients achieved favorable neurologic outcomes. The mean albumin values were significantly lower in patients with poor neurologic outcomes than the values in those with good neurologic outcomes (3.3 ± 0.6 vs. 3.9 ± 0.4, respectively, p < 0.001). After adjusting the crude model, patients in the hypoalbuminemia group were 3.5 times more likely to have poor neurologic outcome than were those in the normal albumin group (OR 3.526, 95% CI 1.388–8.956, p=0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Hypoalbuminemia was common after CA, and the serum albumin level at admission was associated with poor neurological outcomes at 6 months after CA in patients treated with TTM.