title: Severe hypernatremia in newborns due to salting.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the etiology, clinical, and laboratory findings and prognostic features of life-threatening hypernatremic newborns secondary to salting. Ten severely hypernatremic newborns (four females) with a mean age of 6.5 +/- 2.6 days were followed up. Nine of them were full term, and one was preterm. It was noticeable that 60% of them were small for gestational age. In the laboratory investigation, five uremias were detected. It was interesting to find in the etiologic history that 40% of the patients had been salted just after birth. Twenty percent of them had also hyperbilirubinemia and kernicterus, 20% had neonatal convulsion, and 50% had dehydration. Two of the hypernatremic newborns died during the study; the others were followed up. One case had spasticity and developmental disability at the 3rd month, and another one had developmental disability at the 6th month of ages. As a conclusion, although salting of newborns is not so frequent, it could be seen in rural places of our country, and this may be one of the reasons for serious hypernatremia in newborns whose skin integrity have not been formed completely. These cases should be treated carefully.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, School of Medicine, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey. pekererdal@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Erdal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peker
authors.forename: Ercan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kirimi
authors.forename: Oguz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tuncer
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ceylan
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000209:etiology; D003681:Dehydration / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D006955:Hypernatremia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride