Table 9.

Summary of Studies Using Transferrin or TLC as a Marker of Malnutrition

Definition of Nutrition	Definition of Malnutrition	Amount of Studies Showing Significancea	Total No. of Patients With Notable Results	Complications Which Reached Significance
All parameters within normal limits	Low albumin or transferrin or TLC	135	463	Chronic septic failure and acute PJI complicating aseptic revision arthroplasty
Normal transferrin	Low transferrin	027	3111	Wound complicationsb
All parameters within normal limits	Low albumin or transferrin	114	2161	LOS, neurovascular, renal, hematoma/seroma, and any complications
Normal TLC	Low TLC	117	101	Cost/charges, anesthesia time, surgical time, in-hospital costs, and LOS
All parameters within normal limits	Low albumin or TLC	22,19	3169	Function score on the American Knee Society range of motion scale and19 low preoperative S. albumin associated with increased risk for SSIs2

PJI = periprosthetic joint infection; TLC = total lymphocyte count, LOS = length of stay

^aThe superscript next to the number refers to the article in which the data were extracted in each associated row. It is not an exponent.

^bThe single study showing significance did not list specific P-values, although it stated that a value of less than 0.05 was significant. It demonstrated, using percentages, that a low transferrin level led to an increased OR for wound complications. Although the study does not explicitly state that the data are significant, the words and the phrasing are highly suggestive of this.