Study of hypoalbuminemia in paediatric intensive care unit admitted children

Abstract

Background: Albumin has several important properties in both health and disease. Hypoalbuminemia has been considered as an indicator of disease severity and mortality in adult patients, but its role in pediatric patients is not well established. Study aimed to understand importance of hypoalbuminemia in critical illness in paediatric patients.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted amongst children aged 2 months to 18 years admitted at PICU of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 6 months. Study protocol was approved by institutional ethical committee.Results: Amongst the total studied cases (110), 59 cases of the total contributed to hypoalbuminemia. According to primary system affected, post COVID MISC, acute infectious diseases, systemic inflammatory disease and sepsis are some of the common conditions associated with higher incidence of hypoalbuminemia. Statistically significant difference was found in this group of population. Amongst the hypo-albuminemic group 59 (53.64%), in mild category there were 42 (38.18%) patients and in severe category there were 17 patients (15.46%).Conclusions: Hypoalbuminemia is common in patients admitted to the PICU. Post COVID MISC, acute infectious diseases, sepsis and systemic inflammatory diseases are most common conditions associated with it. Hypo-albuminemiais an important indicator of mortality in PICU and serum albumin is a good and reliable indicator for detecting mortality.