Patients may present to medical attention with symptoms related to low serum sodium concentrations. However, many patients present due to manifestations of other medical comorbidities, with hyponatremia being recognized only secondarily. For many people, therefore, the recognition is entirely incidental. Patients may develop clinical symptoms due to the cause of hyponatremia or the hyponatremia itself.
Many medical illnesses, such as congestive heart failure, liver failure, renal failure, or pneumonia, may be associated with hyponatremia. These patients frequently present because of primary disease symptomatology (eg, dyspnea, jaundice, uremia, and cough).[11]