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Table 1 Characteristics of patients with normal serum sodium on day one in the intensive care unit (ICU)*†

From: The epidemiology of intensive care unit-acquired hyponatraemia and hypernatraemia in medical-surgical intensive care units

 

Serum Sodium Category

Characteristics

Acquire hyponatraemia

(n = 917)

Always normal

(n = 5068)

Acquire hypernatraemia

(n = 2157)

Demographic

   

Age, mean, years

57 (19)

56 (20)

60 (18)

Female, number (%)

397 (43)

2060 (41)

866 (40)

Hospital

   

Admission location, number (%)

   

   Emergency department

337 (37)

1926 (38)

833 (39)

   Operating room

243 (27)

1450 (29)

509 (24)

   Hospital floor

217 (24)

1049 (21)

534 (25)

   Transfer from another facility

118 (13)

632 (13)

280 (13)

Admission ICU, number (%)

   

   Trauma and neurosurgery referral ICU

534 (58)

2568 (51)

1127 (52)

   Vascular surgery referral ICU

214 (23)

1388 (27)

595 (28)

   General medical-surgical ICU

169 (18)

1112 (22)

435 (20)

Weekend admission, number (%)

265 (29)

1294 (26)

599 (28)

Night admission, number (%)

536 (58)

2787 (55)

1267 (59)

Clinical

   

Admitting diagnosis category, number (%)

   

   Neurological/trauma

256 (28)

1279 (25)

607 (28)

   Surgical

255 (28)

1570 (31)

570 (26)

   Medical

404 (44)

2191 (43)

979 (45)

Vasoactive medication first 24 hours, number (%)

318 (35)

936 (19)

820 (38)

Mechanical ventilation first 24 hours, number (%)

619 (67)

3277 (65)

1629 (75)

Temperature, °C

37.0 (1.5)

37.0 (1.3)

36.8 (1.6)

Glasgow Coma Scale score

9.2 (4.4)

9.6 (4.3)

8.1 (4.3)

Serum sodium, mmol/L

137 (3)

139 (3)

140 (3)

Serum potassium, mmol/L

4.0 (0.9)

3.9 (0.7)

4.0 (0.9)

Serum glucose, mmol/L

9.2 (4.0)

8.9 (3.7)

10.0 (4.9)

Serum creatinine, median (IQR) μmol/L

78 (56 to 133)

76 (59 to 104)

90 (64 to 143)

APACHE II Score

19.8 (7.9)

16.9 (7.5)

21.8 (7.7)

TISS score

39.1 (13.2)

32.3 (11.9)

40.8 (12.5)

Level of care, number (%)

   

   Full care

887 (97)

4799 (95)

2018 (94)

   Full care, but no CPR

30 (3)

258 (5)

135 (6)

   Comfort care

0 (0)

11(0)

4 (0)

  1. *Results reported as mean (standard deviation) unless indicated.
  2. †Physiological and laboratory data represent the most abnormal values recorded during the first day in ICU.
  3. APACHE = Acute Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation, CPR = cardiopulmonary resuscitation, IQR = interquartile range, TISS = Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System.