Author(s)

Jackson Rashid Djuma^1*, Eva Tshaba Kashinda², Serge Kapend Matanda³, Pascaline Migabo⁴, Olivier Bwemere⁵, Beros Vangu⁶, Assa Eca Kreedom⁷, Michel Manika⁸, Christian Ngandu⁹, Claudine Malonga¹⁰, Deogratias Mulungulungu¹¹, Hassane Njimi¹², Jean Charles Preiser¹³

¹Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
²Medical Emergency Unit, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, South African Republic.
³Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁴Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁵Ministry of Public Health, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁶HPCZ University Teaching Hospitals/Adult Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁷Higher Institute of Medical Technics of Baraka, Baraka, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁸Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
⁹National Public Health Institute, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
¹⁰DNP, C-PNP-PC, Emory University, Atlanta, United States of America.
¹¹Human Nutrition Unit, School of Public Health, University of Lubumbashi (UNILU), Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
¹²CUB-Hopital Erasmus, Intensive Care Unit, Erasmus University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.
¹³Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.

Purpose: The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess if hypoalbuminemia can predict mortality in critically ill non-surgical adult patients. Methods: We searched on Public Access to Medline (PubMed), Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) and ScienceDirect databases for relevant articles published from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2024. We included observational studies of critically ill non-surgical adult patients in European hospitals. We performed the meta-analysis on Review Manager (RevMan Web by Cochrane Collaboration). The adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) for the association between hypoalbuminemia and mortality was extracted from included articles and pooled with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A random effect model was used. Sensitivity analysis was performed on RevMan. Results: We included a total of 9 observational studies with 6846 participants. Hypoalbuminemia was significantly associated with high mortality among critically ill non-surgical adult patients. The pooled OR was: 1.93 95% CI: 1.45, 2.56. Heterogeneity (I²) = 93% P < 0.00001. Sensitivity analysis showed that no study had an undue influence on the results of the study, as the effect size remained statistically significant to the exclusion of any study. Conclusion: The meta-analysis found that Hypoalbuminemia is a significant predictor of mortality for critically ill non-surgical adult patients. Our results may suggest that great attention should be paid for critically ill non-surgical adult patients with hypoalbuminemia to reduce the bad outcome. Health policies and procedures should include the albumin test for better outcomes.

Hypoalbuminemia, Mortality, Severe Non-Surgical Adult Patients, Meta-Analysis

Djuma, J. , Kashinda, E. , Matanda, S. , Migabo, P. , Bwemere, O. , Vangu, B. , Kreedom, A. , Manika, M. , Ngandu, C. , Malonga, C. , Mulungulungu, D. , Njimi, H. and Preiser, J. (2025) Association Between Hypoalbuminemia and Mortality in Critically Ill Non-Surgical Adult Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Open Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13, 178-195. doi: 10.4236/ojem.2025.132017.