Serum Albumin is Independent Predictor of Hospital Mortality in Patients with Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. There are few studies showing adjusted models with other predictors of mortality by a conceptual model perspective. Objective: The objective of this study was to verify the prediction of albumin and Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) with in-hospital mortality in cancer patients. Method: Retrospective study was performed from 2014 to 2016 with 262 cancer patients (gastrointestinal tract, male genital organs, breast, metastasis, urinary tract, head and neck and others). Demographic data, blood counts, C-reactive protein, albumin, and haematological indexes (Prognosis nutritional index - PNI, Neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio - NLR, Monocytes lymphocytes ratio - MLR, Platelets to lymphocytes ratio - PLR and Platelets to albumin ratio - PAR), nutritional diagnoses and hospital outcomes (discharge or death) were collected. The cumulative probability of death was calculated by Kaplan-Meier curves, and survival analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The frequency of death among the study patients was 10.7% (28). Among the patients who died, 99.2% (26) presented some degree of malnutrition (p=0.004). In the multivariate analysis, serum albumin (<3 g/dL) was independently associated with in-hospital mortality (HR=3.43, 95% CI 1.11-10.63). On the other hand, the PNI was not associated with in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Serum albumin levels during hospitalization were predictors of in-hospital mortality in the population evaluated. These results suggest that the serum levels of this protein can be used in clinical practice, adding prognostic information in patients with cancer.