Abstract:
Background: Hyperkalemia is defined as a plasma potassium level of 5.5 millimole/L, occurring in up
to 10% of hospitalized patients; severe hyperkalemia (>6.0 millimole/L) occurs in ~1%.
Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the treatment used and its outcome for patients with
hyperkalemia admitted at Jimma University Medical Center Medical ward and medical intensive care
unit during the study period.
Methods: A Hospital based prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at JUMC from
November15 to March 3,2023GC.Patients admitted at JUMC medical ward and MICU who had
hyperkalemia were included in the study based on pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data
was collected using structured questioner, reviewing patients’ data and taking history when it was
necessary. The data was collected by the trained nurses, under Supervision of the investigator. The data
was entered in to Epi Data version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS version 27 for analysis and results
were presented in the form of texts, graphs and tables.
Result: A total of 51 patients were found to have hyperkalemia during the study period; of these 52.9%
were female. 82.4% of cases were below the age of 60 years. Acute kidney injury and chronic kidney
disease were the most common comorbidities each accounting for 37.9% and 23% respectively.
Majority of patients were having baseline serum potassium in the moderate to severe range.
Hyperkalemia related ECG changes were seen in 53.3% of cases; peaked T wave being the commonest
finding (46.7% of cases). Four potential therapies (insulin/glucose, diuretics, IV calcium gluconate and
dialysis) were applied in 5 different combinations. Insulin with glucose was the most common
intervention administered, alone or in combination with other therapies in 100% of patients. In 80.4% of
patients’ potassium was normalized. In Hospital mortality was 5.9%. Hypoglycemia was commonest
treatment related complication occurring in 31.2% of patients.
Conclusion: In this study all patients were treated for hyperkalemia with at least one modality of
therapy and insulin with glucose being the commonest as a monotherapy or in combination with other
agents. In Hospital mortality was 5.9%.Hypoglycemia was commonest treatment related complication.
