Low-normal sodium deemed major risk for mortality in elderly

A slightly lower serum sodium concentration within the normal range is a major risk factor for mortality in elderly adults, according to a study published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

28 mar 2016--Shin Y. Ahn, M.D., from Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in South Korea, and colleagues randomly selected, community-based 949 elderly adults with a corrected serum sodium level between 135.0 and 145.0 mEq/L from the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging cohort. Patients were stratified by sodium level: 73 in Group 1 (sodium 135.0 to 138.0 mEq/L), 635 in Group 2 (sodium 138.1 to 142.0 mEq/L), and 241 in Group 3 (sodium 142.1 to 145.0 mEq/L).
The researchers found that deaths significantly varied by group: 34 deaths in Group 1, 124 in Group 2, and 52 in Group 3 (P < 0.001). A 2-mEq/L higher sodium level reduced the risk of death by 14.9 percent (P = 0.048). Group 1 had risk of mortality that was 2.7 times as high as that of Group 2 (P < 0.001). Those with a measured sodium level of ≤138.0 mEq/L and a corrected sodium level >138.0 mEq/L had a better survival rate than those with a measured sodium level of ≤138.0 mEq/L and a corrected sodium level of ≤138.0 mEq/L.
"Sodium level corrected according to serum glucose concentration was a more meaningful risk factor than measured sodium level," the authors write.

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