Introduction
Malnutrition, Frailty
MALNOURISHED, MALNUTRITION, NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES
Historically, serum albumin concentration was considered to be a marker of nutritional status and physicians monitored albumin concentrations in patients during their hospital stay. This assumption was based on the pathophysiological grounds that albumin concentration reflects circulating proteins in plasma, with lower concentrations indicating nutritional deficiencies [Malnutrition is a common condition among medical inpatients, with a prevalence of about 30%, and is associated with increased mortality, morbidity, disability, and higher health care costs [Herein, we tested the hypothesis that nutritional support influences short-term changes in serum albumin concentrations in medical inpatients and that these changes would correlate with medical outcomes and response to nutritional support in patients included in the Effect of early nutritional therapy on Frailty, Functional Outcomes, and Recovery on malnourished medical inpatients Trial (EFFORT) [