title: Hyponatremia in internal medicine ward patients: causes, treatment and prognosis.
abstract: A prospective study among unselected patients hospitalized in an internal medicine ward showed that 46 patients, 6.9% of total admissions, had serum concentrations of sodium less than 132 mEq/l. In 28.3% of hyponatremic patients (n = 13), the cause was the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion; 21.7% of the cases (n = 10) developed hyponatremia during hospitalization, mainly because of hypotonic solution administration. The mortality rate among the hyponatremic patients was high (30.4%) and was not influenced by treatment of hyponatremia. In our opinion, the high mortality reflects the severity of the underlying diseases, although 82.5% of the patients were asymptomatic or had mild neurological signs. There was no significant correlation between the degree of hyponatremia and neurological signs, or mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Rokach (Hadassah) Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hochman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cabili
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007010:Hyponatremia / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D007177:Inappropriate ADH Syndrome / Q000150:complications; D007297:Inpatients; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D010361:Patients; D010362:Patients' Rooms; D011379:Prognosis; D012964:Sodium / Q000097:blood; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride; D012964:Sodium