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.