Rapidly Declining Serum Albumin Values in Newly Hospitalized Patients: Prevalence, Severity, and Contributory Factors

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Abstract
We had noted that a number of hospitalized patients showed abnormally low serum albumin levels within a few days of admission, although the albumin had been normal at admission. Since this rapid decline in albumin could not be accounted for on the basis of starvation, we hypothesized that the changes were due to the increase in intravascular fluid volume which normally occurs with assumption of the recumbent position. Since albumin is often a nutritional screening parameter in hospitalized patients, it is important to ascertain the incidence of such profound changes in albumin as well as to identify possible causes for this change.