title: Hospital-based descriptive study of symptomatic hyponatremia in elderly patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hyponatremia is a common electrolyte disturbance in the hospitalized elderly sick patients. There is no existing record for profiling of symptomatic hyponatremia in elderly Indian subjects.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study clinical features and etiology of hyponatremia in elderly hospitalized patients. To classify severity of hyponatremia in hospitalized elderly
  
  
  METHODS
  All elderly patients admitted to ICU with serum sodium level < =125 mmol/L were included in study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  100 patients with symptomatic hyponatremia (serum sodium < =125 mmol/L) were studied. The CNS symptoms included drowsiness, lethargy, confusion, seizures and coma. There was female preponderance of cases (55%). The common co-morbid conditions were Hypertension (69%) and diabetes mellitus (51%). Females tolerated hyponatremia better than males with mortality of 9.09% in females and 33.33% in males (p = 0.0026). The common cause of Hyponatremia was SIADH (30) followed by drugs of which diuretics was the major contributor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hyponatremia was more common in females and they seemed to better tolerate it than their male counterparts. Diuretics should be used with caution in elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, MS Ramaiah Hospitals, MSRIT Post, New BEL Road, Bangalore 560 054.
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sudhir
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anil Kumar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saravanan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mahesh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Punith
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D003221:Confusion / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007010:Hyponatremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D007177:Inappropriate ADH Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012964:Sodium / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride; D012964:Sodium