Serum Albumin as a Prognostic Marker in Geriatric Intermediate Care: A Retrospective Cohort Study

This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of admission serum albumin levels on six-month mortality and readmission in older adults admitted to an intermediate care facility. We hypothesized that lower albumin would be independently associated with adverse outcomes.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study at Saint Vincent de Paul Residence, including 145 intermediate care inpatients and 134 community-dwelling outpatient controls between April 2024 and March 2025. Data included demographics, frailty scores, comorbidities, CRP and albumin. Logistic regression assessed the relationship between albumin and outcomes, adjusting for age, sex, CRP, frailty and multimorbidity.

Mean admission albumin was 29.8 g/L in inpatients versus 40.0 g/L in controls (p<0.0001). Six-month readmission and mortality rates were 34.5% and 36.6%, respectively. Albumin independently predicted adverse composite outcomes (OR 0.439 per 5 g/L increase, p 0.003).

Low serum albumin is an independent predictor of six-month mortality and adverse outcomes in frail older adults admitted to intermediate care.