Patidar KR, Adibuzzaman M, Naved MA, et al. - US hospitalized patients suffering from cirrhosis and acute kidney injury (AKI) frequently are not administered intravenous albumin, and albumin use did not confer improved clinical results.

• This is a retrospective cohort study to understand practice-patterns as well as outcomes related to albumin use in a large, nationwide-US cohort of hospitalized cirrhotics with AKI.

• A total of 6,786 patients were incorporated for analysis on albumin-practice-patterns, and 4,126 had available outcomes data.

• Albumin was administered to 35% of patients, and its employment was more frequent in cases with advanced complications of cirrhosis, higher MELD-Na (Model for End-stage Liver Disease Sodium) scores, and those admitted to urban-teaching hospitals.

• Following propensity-matching and multivariable adjustment, albumin use was not related to AKI-recovery [Odds-ratio (OR) 0.70] or in-hospital survival [OR 0.76], vs crystalloids.

• Results did not change in subgroup analyses of cases with varying cirrhosis complications and disease severity.