BACKGROUND: Fluid and electrolyte balance is a key concept to understand for maintaining
homeostasis, and for a successful treatment of many metabolic disorders. There are various regulating
mechanisms for the equilibrium of electrolytes in organisms. Disorders of these mechanisms result
in electrolyte imbalances that may be life-threatening clinical conditions. In this study we defined the
electrolyte imbalance characteristics of patients admitted to our emergency department.
METHODS: This study was conducted in the Emergency Department (ED) of Uludag University
Faculty of Medicine, and included 996 patients over 18 years of age. All patients had electrolyte
imbalance, with various etiologies other than traumatic origin. Demographic and clinical parameters
were collected after obtaining informed consent from the patients. The ethical committee of the
university approved this study.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 59.28±16.79, and 55% of the patients were
male. The common symptoms of the patients were dyspnea (14.7%), fever (13.7%), and systemic
deterioration (11.9%); but the most and least frequent electrolyte imbalances were hyponatremia and
hypermagnesemia, respectively. Most frequent fi ndings in physical examination were confusion (14%),
edema (10%) and rales (9%); and most frequent pathological findings in ECG were tachycardia in
24%, and atrial fi brillation in 7% of the patients. Most frequent comorbidity was malignancy (39%). Most
frequent diagnoses in the patients were sepsis (11%), pneumonia (9%), and acute renal failure (7%).
CONCLUSIONS: Electrolyte imbalances are of particular importance in the treatment of ED
patients. Therefore, ED physicians must be acknowledged of their fl uid-electrolyte balance dynamics
and general characteristics.
KEY WORDS: Emergency department; Electrolyte imbalance; Patient characteristics