FRI124 Insights From The Incidence Of Primary Aldosteronism In Patients With Hypokalemia (IPAHK(+)) - Study

Disclosure: S. Gruber: None. E. Stasi: None. A. Boan Pion: None. R. Steiner: None. I. Sudano: None. F. Beuschlein: None. Background: Hypokalemia plays an important role in the diagnosis and management of primary aldosteronism (PA). The hypokalemic variant of the disease accounts for about one third of all cases. However, little is known about the incidence of PA in a hypokalemic population. Design: The IPAHK(+) study is an epidemiological, monocentric, cross-sectional trial to provide evidence on the incidence of PA in a hypokalemic outpatient population. Methods: Recruitment of outpatients with hypokalemia ≤3 mmol/l is carried out on a continuous referral-basis through an automated data delivery system at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ). Todate, 69 patients underwent the study protocol, which includes guideline-compliant workup for PA. Results: The mean age of the participants was 52.5±1.5 years with a sex ratio of 35:34 women to men, a mean potassium value of 2.77±0.03 mmol/l [1.8; 3.0] and a prevalence of arterial hypertension of71%. PA was diagnosed in 45.9% of all participants, all of whom had a history of hypertension. The incidence of PA increased continuously with decreasing potassium level with proportions of 26.7%,45.8% and 59.1% in the subgroups of 3.0 mmol/l (n=15), 2.8-2.9 (n=24) and ≤2.7 mmol/l (n=22),respectively. In the subgroup of hypertensives the incidence of PA was as high as 65.1%. Prior testing,60.9% of all patients presented at least with one plausible other cause for their hypokalemia with potential drug triggers accounting for the largest portion (33.3%). Among participants on diuretics the incidence of PA was 57.9%. Conclusions: The incidence of PA in the investigated outpatient population was more than 4 out of 10and inversely correlated with baseline potassium levels. Moderate or severe hypokalemia, regardless of its cause, should therefore prompt evaluation for PA in hypertensive individuals. Normotensive PA was not observed in our cohort. The significance of the study is limited by the still low number of enrolled patients with a potential selection bias. Presentation: Friday, June 16, 2023