We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Download Mobile App




Serum Albumin Levels Associated with Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 06 Sep 2016
Print article
Image: The Hitachi 7600–210 modular clinical biochemistry analyzer (Photo courtesy of Hitachi).
Image: The Hitachi 7600–210 modular clinical biochemistry analyzer (Photo courtesy of Hitachi).
Serum albumin is commonly used as a proxy for nutritional status, as well as a marker of inflammation and a low serum albumin concentration is not only indicative of protein energy wasting in dialysis patients, but it is also a powerful predictor of the mortality risk in this population.

Several clinical conditions are associated with low serum albumin levels in dialysis patients, including infectious and inflammatory diseases, fluid overload, inadequate dialysis, severe co-morbidity, and taste change. Therefore, regular monitoring of serum albumin levels is useful for predicting outcomes in dialysis patients.

Scientists the Chang Gung University College of Medicine (Taoyuan City, Taiwan) and their colleagues included in a study 781 patients who received maintenance hemodialysis (HD) in a large, hospital-facilitated HD center. Five-year medical records (2009–2013) were retrospectively reviewed, and the cut-off level for serum albumin level was set at 3.5 g/dL. Serial haemogram results and biochemical data from the study period were collected and were analyzed retrospectively.

Corrected serum calcium was calculated and all blood samples were analyzed using commercial kits and the Hitachi 7600–210 autoanalyzer (Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). Albumin was measured using the bromocresol green method; the normal range was 3.5–5.2 g/dL. The outcome measures included the associations between serum albumin reach rates (defined as the percentage of monthly serum albumin level recordings that were greater or equal to 3.5 g/dL) and time-averaged albumin levels in the first 2-year period with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the subsequent 3-year period.

The investigator found that among the 781 patients, 689 patients had higher albumin reach rates and 92 patients had lower albumin reach rates over the 5-year period. Older age and higher prevalence of diabetes were identified in the patients with lower albumin reach rates. Patients with higher albumin reach rates exhibited higher survival rates than those with lower albumin reach rates. In terms of haemogram and biophysical parameters, patients with lower albumin reach rates exhibited significantly lower values for albumin, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), potassium (K), and phosphate (P), and higher levels of corrected serum calcium (Ca), ferritin, and cardiothoracic (CT) ratio than those with higher albumin reach rates.

The authors concluded that their study showed that a higher serum albumin level has a survival benefit in long-term HD patients. An obviously low albumin level should emphasize the need for initiating a management strategy and receiving appropriate medical intervention. The study was published on August 20, 2016, in the journal BMC Nephrology.

Related Links:
Chang Gung University College of Medicine
Hitachi
Gold Member
Troponin T QC
Troponin T Quality Control
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
Centrifuge
Hematocrit Centrifuge 7511M4
New
Silver Member
HPV Molecular Controls
ZeptoMetrix® HPV Type 16, 18, 45 & 68 Molecular Controls

Print article

Channels

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.