Hafiza Itrat Naseem, Muhammad Awais, Rizwan Mehmood, Sadia Alam, Usman Nasir, Momna Riaz.
Status of Serum Electrolytes among Malnourished Children Presenting with Acute Diarrhea to the Emergency Department of a Teaching Hospital.
J Sharif Med Dent Coll Jan ;7(01):43-7.

Objective: To determine the frequency of hypokalemia and hyponatremia among malnourished children presenting with acute diarrhea to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital of Lahore. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study including 144 malnourished children presenting in the pediatrics emergency of Akhtar Saeed Hospital from February to August 2019. Using aseptic techniques, 5 ml of blood sample of each patient was taken and sent to the pathology laboratory for determination of serum potassium and sodium levels. The presence of hypokalemia and hyponatremia was noted in the proforma. Confidentiality of the data was ensured. Serum potassium concentration of <3.5 mmol/L was taken as hypokalemia. Serum sodium concentration of <135 mmol/L was taken as hyponatremia. Results: The mean age of all cases was 35.84+/-14.36 months with minimum and maximum age between 6 to 60 months. There were 84(58.3%) male and 60(41.7%) female cases. The mean serum sodium level was 134.82+/-8.63 mmol/L and the mean serum potassium level was 3.20+/-1.33 mmol/L. According to operational definition, the frequency & percentage of hyponatremia and hypokalemia was 47(32.6%) and 86(59.7%), respectively. Conclusion: The current study concludes that serum electrolyte imbalances in malnourished children are significantly enhanced by an acute episode of diarrhea. Keywords: Acute diarrhea. Hypokalemia. Hyponatremia. Malnourishment.

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