The Impact of Prealbumin on Postoperative Length of Stay in Elderly Orthopedic Patients.

<p>The purpose of this research was to evaluate whether serum prealbumin levels would serve as a predictor of hospital length of stay for elderly orthopedic patients who underwent hip replacement surgery. The study consisted of a set of 54 patients admitted to a hospital in Bristol, Tennessee. Patients with depleted prealbumin levels, low to low/normal prealbumin levels, or normal prealbumin levels were analyzed. Data collected from a retrospective chart review included: age, length of stay, serum glucose, sodium, potassium, hematocrit, hemoglobin, BUN, creatinine, WBC, prealbumin, and post operative diet consumption. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance for treatment effects. Because of the limited size of the data set, probabilities approaching p<0.10 were considered and levels of p<0.05 were considered significant. The research failed to show a significant relationship between prealbumin levels at admission and length of patient stay during post-operative recovery.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS (Master of Science)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Clinical Nutrition

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Pennington, Brandy Paige

• geriatric surgery
• plasma protein
• malnutrition
• prealbumin
• Human and Clinical Nutrition
• Life Sciences
• Nutrition

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1019

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2176