ALB and heart disorder: However, on univariate analysis, seven other factors were found to be significantly associated with increased odds of hospitalization: female sex, diagnosis of stage IV disease, diagnosis of gastric/esophageal cancer, polypharmacy (≥5 daily medications), decreased hearing, patient-reported cardiac comorbidity (history of heart disease), and low serum albumin (<3.5 g/dL) (Table 4).