Instant nutritional assessment in the intensive care unit.

Instant nutritional assessment of the critically ill patient using serum albumin level and total lymphocyte count is reported. When an intensive care unit population is compared to the general hospital population a 6-fold increase in albumin level depressions, a 2-fold increase in lymphocyte count depression, and an 11-fold increase in depression of both parameters was noted in the intensive care unit population. Surgical intensive care unit (SICU) patients with depressed albumin levels and total lymphocyte counts had twice the complication rate and 4.5 times the death rate of those SICU patients with normal albumin levels and lymphocyte counts. It is concluded that serum albumin levels and total lymphocyte count determinations are valuable tools for instant nutritional assessment of the critically ill patient.