Prevalence of Dehydration and Use of Oral Electrolytes in Adults and Older adults with Nondiarrheal Conditions: A Retrospective, Real-world, Database Study.

Introduction: Dehydration due to nondiarrheal conditions often goes underrecognized. Physicians rely on the guidelines for the treatment of diarrheal dehydration to treat nondiarrheal dehydration. However, treatment of nondiarrheal dehydration requires fluid, electrolyte, and energy (FEE) drinks with additional energy, which help overcome the FEE deficits created due to hypermetabolic response to such conditions.

Methodology: Anonymized and aggregated data retrieved from the HealthPlix electronic medical record (EMR) database was used to understand the usage of oral electrolytes in nondiarrheal conditions in nondiabetic patients and their effect on the resolution of fever and respiratory tract infection (RTI).

Results: There was a significant gap between the number of patients with documented dehydration and those prescribed oral electrolytes. ORSL^® emerged as the top prescription choice for multiple conditions and symptoms among the products studied. Recovery from fever was relatively faster in the case of the patients prescribed oral electrolytes. The proportion of patients resolved from RTI was higher for the oral electrolyte arm. This suggests the crucial role of oral electrolytes to support recovery from nondiarrheal conditions.

Conclusion: Dehydration in nondiarrheal conditions should be appropriately examined and documented in the prescriptions. There exists a need to highlight the importance of prescribing oral electrolytes with standard medical care to benefit the patients.