Prevalence of Electrolyte Disorders during the Immediate Postoperative Intensive Care - The Experience of a Large Brazilian Center

The immediate postoperative period covers the 24 hours following any surgical intervention.In order to determine the prevalence of electrolyte disturbances in the immediate postoperative period in an intensive care unit, our team assessed the presence of electrolyte disturbances in a carefully selected group of patients. Thus, 208 patients met the selection criteria. Of these, 109 (52%) were morbidly obese, and were in the postoperative period of bariatric surgery, which allowed the design of 2 subgroups of patients differentiated by the presence or absence of such pathology. Both subgroups of patients showed no statistically significant differences in prevalence of any of the evaluated electrolyte disturbances. The most prevalent electrolyte disorder in all patients participating in the study was hypomagnesemia, followed by hypocalcemia and hypokalemia. Despite the high prevalence of hypomagnesemia and hypocalcemia, no associated clinical complications were observed.