| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
|
| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 12
| Issue : 4 | Page : 172-178 |
|
|
A Study on Hyponatremia in Critically Ill Geriatric Patients
R Maloo1, KC Jain2
1 Department of Medicine, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Udaipur (Raj.), India
2 Professor, Department of Medicine, Geetanjali Medical College & Hospital, Udaipur (Raj.), India
Correspondence Address:
R Maloo
528, PG Hostel, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Manwakheda, Udaipur 313001 (Raj)
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
|
|
|
Background: Hyponatremia is a condition when serum sodium is <135 meq/L and is considered severe when <125mEq/l. It can be due to abnormal sodium or water balance and is the most common electrolyte disorder occurring in critically ill patients and particularly so in the elderly.
Aims: Present study aims to ascertain etiological factors, frequency and outcome of hyponatremia in critically ill geriatric patients and describe its clinical manifestations.
Methods: This observational study was conducted in an intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital of Rajasthan on 100 geriatric patients over a period of 1 year.
Observation: In this study 62 males and 38 females were admitted with hypopnatremia with 25% having mild and 67% moderate hyponatremia; of which 58% were symptomatic having lethargy (34%) and postural dizziness (27%)as the common clinical presentation. Hypertension(57%) and diabetes (43%) were frequent comorbities while CCF (40%) followed by drugs (16%) were the common etiologies. Fluid restriction (63%) was the major treatment followed by diuretics (23%), normal saline (14%) and hypertonic saline (5%) with an overall mortality of 10% unrelated to the severity of hyponatremia at presentation.
Conclusion: Hyponatremia is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill geriatric patients and needs special consideration to decrease the ICU stay and associated morbidity.
|
|
|
|
| [PDF]* |
|
 |
|
