Preoperative Albumin, Transferrin, and Total Lymphocyte Count as Risk Markers for Postoperative Complications After Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review

The focus is on the trends rather than absolutes. As shown in Table 1, whether the albumin cutoff for albumin was 3.0 g/dL, 3.5 g/dL, or 3.9 g/dL, the trend remains the same. Because low albumin before TJAs tends to increase complications, it is recommended to incorporate albumin levels in preoperative workups. Many patients with hip and knee arthritis undergo months of conservative management (eg, physical therapy and corticosteroid injections) before considering surgery, and it would be wise to optimize their nutritional status in this period to minimize the risk of perioperative complications. The physician should use these data to provide informed consent of the increased risk to patients planning to undergo TJAs with elevated malnutrition markers. Because this research is retrospective in nature, albumin should be studied prospectively in hypoalbuminemic and normoalbuminemic patients and their postoperative outcomes should be measured. Regarding transferrin and TLC, future research should help elucidate their predictive value and determine the value of preoperatively optimizing them and their effect in mitigating postoperative complications.