Postoperative Hypoalbuminemia: Prevalence, Risk Factors, Association with Postoperative Pneumonia in Brain Tumors Patients Undergoing Craniotomy

Hypoalbuminemia is associatied with poor outcome in patients undergoing surgery intervention. The main aim for this study was to investigate the incidence and the risk factors of postoperative hypoalbuminemia and assessed the impact of postoperative hypoalbuminemia on complications in patients undergoing brain tumor surgery. This retrospective study included 372 consecutive patients who underwent brain tumors surgery from January 2017 to December 2019. The patients were divided into hypoalbuminemia (< 35 g/L) and non-hypoalbuminemia group (≥ 35 g/L) based on postoperative albumin levels. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine risk factors. Of the total 372 patients, 333 (89.5%) developed hypoalbuminemia after surgery. Hypoalbuminemia was associated with operation time (OR 1.011, P < 0.001), preoperative albumin (OR 0.864, P = 0.015) and peroperative globulin (OR 1.192, P = 0.004). Postoperative pneumonia had a higher incidence in patients with than without hypoalbuminemia (41.1% vs 23.1%, P = 0.029). The independent predictors of postoperative pneumonia were age (OR 1.053, P < 0.001), operation time (OR 1.003, P = 0.013) and lower postoperative albumin (OR 0.946, P = 0.018). Postoperative hypoalbuminemia has a higher incidence with the increase of operation time, and is associated with postoperative pneumonia in patients undergoing brain tumor surgery.