The combination of low albumin levels (≤30 g/L), performance status according to the ECOG scale (ECOG > 1), male sex, and non-IgA type MM (1 point each) classified the patients into three risk groups, and those at intermediate- and high-risk had a 20% and 30% probability, respectively, of early serious infection as compared with only 8% in those at low-risk. This evidence concerns the gene ALB and infection.