Clinical chemistry
-
Patients who exhibited both hyponatremia and hypernatremia during a single admission were identified by a review of their biochemistry data. The mortality of patients who developed either hypernatremia or hyponatremia, followed by the opposite abnormality within less than or equal to 10 days, was 42%. ⋯ The interval (days) between the maximum and minimum sodium concentrations in the survivors and those who died was not statistically different. We found no specific clinical features that could be used to predict the development of this biochemical abnormality.