Hyponatremia in COVID‐19 patients: Experience from Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to measure the prevalence of hyponatremia and its association with clinical and laboratory characteristics of hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in COVID‐19 dedicated wards at DMCH from June to August 2020. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected from patient treatment sheets. Two groups of COVID‐19 patients were retrospectively screened on the basis of plasma sodium level at admission: hyponatremic (sodium < 135 mM, n = 84) or normonatremic (sodium ≥ 135 mM, n = 48) patients. Severity was assessed using World Health Organization classification for COVID‐19 disease severity. To compare the two groups, Pearson's χ (2) (qualitative variables) and Student's T tests (quantitative variables) were applied. The link between patients' clinical data and outcomes was investigated using logistic regression model. RESULTS: A total of 132 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 51.41 (±14.13) years. Hyponatremia was found in 84 patients (63.6%) and the remaining 48 patients (36.4%) had normal plasma Na(+) values. Among them, 74 (56.06%) presented with severe disease and 53 (40.15%) with moderate disease. At presentation, patients with moderate COVID‐19 disease had 2.15 (1.04–4.5) times higher odds of suffering from hyponatremia. Besides, hyponatremia was independently associated with on admission SpO(2) (p = 0.038), hemoglobin (p = 0.004), and C‐reactive protein (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The authors suggest that patients' serum electrolytes be measured during initial hospital admission and then monitored throughout the hospital stay to predict the probability for referral for invasive ventilation and for better management.