ALB and diabetes mellitus: In comparing at baseline clinical, and laboratory data of patients who died and those who survived, at baseline, patients who died were more likely to be older (P < 0.001), to have diabetes (P < 0.001), a weight loss over 3 months (P < 0.001), previous cardiovascular disease (P = 0.006) and to have lower serum albumin (P < 0.001), lower serum creatinine values (P = 0.013) and higher frequency of inflammation (P = 0.014) (Additional file 1: Table S1).