What an Internist Need to Know About Hyponatremia?

Abstract

In the ICU, the prevalence of hyponatremia (< 135 mEq/l) is around 15%, and 4.5% have a SNa lower than 125 mEq/l [1]. Outside the hospital for patients aged more than 65 y.o. the prevalence is 4.3% (for SNa < 135 mEq/l) and 0.14% have a SNa lower than 126 mEq/l [2,3]. In virtually all common conditions, the presence of hyponatremia is associate with increased morbidity and mortality, regardless the levels of hyponatremia (for a review, see Ref. [3]).