Electrolyte Imbalance in Patients with Sheehan's Syndrome

BACKGROUND: We investigated the prevalence of electrolyte imbalance and the relationship between serum electrolyte and anterior pituitary hormone levels in patients with Sheehan's syndrome. METHODS: In a retrospective study, we investigated 78 patients with Sheehan's syndrome. We also included 95 normal control subjects who underwent a combined anterior pituitary hormone stimulation test and showed normal hormonal responses. RESULTS: In patients with Sheehan's syndrome, the serum levels of sodium, potassium, ionized calcium, magnesium, and inorganic phosphate were significantly lower than those in control subjects. The prevalence of hyponatremia, hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypophosphatemia in patients with Sheehan's syndrome was 59.0% (n=46), 26.9% (n=21), 35.9% (n=28), 47.4% (n=37), and 23.1% (n=18), respectively. Levels of sodium and ionized calcium in serum were positively correlated with levels of all anterior pituitary hormones (all P<0.05). Levels of potassium in serum were positively correlated with adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and growth hormone (GH) levels (all P<0.05). Levels of inorganic phosphate in serum were positively correlated with levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, prolactin, and GH (all P<0.05), and levels of magnesium in serum were positively correlated with delta ACTH (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Electrolyte imbalance was common in patients with Sheehan's syndrome. Furthermore, the degree of anterior pituitary hormone deficiency relates to the degree of electrolyte disturbance in patients with this disease.