Five cases of severe hyponatremia in the elderly successfully treated with low doses of hydrocortisone.
Hyponatremia is commonly defined as a serum sodium concentration of 135 mEq/L or less, which is reported to occur in 0.97-2.48% of hospitalized patients. Especially, in elderly patients, severe hyponatremia is sporadically developed without any complaints. Although a variety of causes of hyponatremia are documented, diagnosis of functional adrenal insufficiency is difficult because of a lack of the diagnostic criteria. In this case report, we present five cases of hyponatremia in the elderly, who were presumed to have functional adrenal insufficiency, successfully treated with low doses of hydrocortisone.
Takei
Masahiro
M
Department of Geriatrics and Aging Medicine, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto City, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
Suzuki
Satoru
S
Sato
Ai
A
Yamazaki
Masanori
M
Shi
Shun
S
Sato
Yoshihiko
Y
Hashizume
Kiyoshi
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007010:Hyponatremia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007022:Hypotension; D008297:Male
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D006854:Hydrocortisone