The Correlation of Serum Chloride Level and Hospital Mortality in Multiple Trauma Patients

INTRODUCTION: Electrolyte disorder is a prevalent complication in multiple trauma patients; nevertheless, the role of chloride has been rarely addressed in literature when evaluating serum electrolytes. OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to determine the correlation between serum chloride changes and hospital mortality in multiple trauma patients. METHOD: The present cross-sectional study measured serum chloride levels in 100 multiple trauma patients upon their admission to the emergency department and 24 hours later. All these patients were followed up in terms of hospital mortality using their medical records. Exact logistic regression was used to measure the effects of independent variables on hospital mortality in the patients. RESULTS: Hospital mortality was found to be 15 (15%), and the mean serum chloride level to be 106.37±4.53 mmol/l upon admission and 112.18±6.16 mmol/l 24 hours later. Although the univariate analysis suggested that serum chloride levels were independently associated with mortality 24 hours after admission (P=0.005), this correlation was insignificant in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: The present study rejected the hypothesis suggesting the potential role of serum chloride levels in predicting hospital mortality in multiple trauma patients.