title: Five cases of severe hyponatremia in the elderly successfully treated with low doses of hydrocortisone.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics and Aging Medicine, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto City, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashizume
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D006854:Hydrocortisone