Evaluation of Hyponatremia in Ischemic Stroke Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction Electrolyte disturbances are commonly found in acute stroke settings. Hypernatremia, hyponatremia and hypokalemia are the commonest types of electrolyte disturbances. Data on electrolyte changes in neurological disorders like stroke is insufficient in Asia. This study aims to quantify the decrease in sodium levels in patients of ischemic stroke and to see whether the presence of co-morbidities like hypertension and diabetes result in decrement in the sodium level of the patients admitted. Methodology This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Ruth M Pfau Civil hospital Karachi on 132 consenting patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke on a clinical and radiological basis using a preformed questionnaire with all the necessary information to evaluate the objective like gender, level of sodium and co-morbidities. The data was analyzed using Chi-squared test using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) software version 22 (IBM, NY, USA). Result The study showed that the majority of the patients (25%) had mild hyponatremia (130-134 mMol/L), only a few (9.8%) had moderate (125-129 mMol/L) or profound (< 125) hyponatremia (3.8%) and 17 out of 44 patients who were hypertensive had their sodium levels changed while only 10 out of 17 diabetics had fluctuating sodium levels (p-value = 0.00). We also found out that most of the patients with altered sodium levels were male in the age range of above 55. Conclusion Patients with ischemic stroke do develop hyponatremia, but only with a slight alteration in the sodium levels.