Diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of hyponatremia: expert panel recommendations.

Hyponatremia is a serious, but often overlooked, electrolyte imbalance that has been independently associated with a wide range of deleterious changes involving many different body systems. Untreated acute hyponatremia can cause substantial morbidity and mortality as a result of osmotically induced cerebral edema, and excessively rapid correction of chronic hyponatremia can cause severe neurologic impairment and death as a result of osmotic demyelination. The diverse etiologies and comorbidities associated with hyponatremia pose substantial challenges in managing this disorder. In 2007, a panel of experts in hyponatremia convened to develop the Hyponatremia Treatment Guidelines 2007: Expert Panel Recommendations that defined strategies for clinicians caring for patients with hyponatremia. In the 6 years since the publication of that document, the field has seen several notable developments, including new evidence on morbidities and complications associated with hyponatremia, the importance of treating mild to moderate hyponatremia, and the efficacy and safety of vasopressin receptor antagonist therapy for hyponatremic patients. Therefore, additional guidance was deemed necessary and a panel of hyponatremia experts (which included all of the original panel members) was convened to update the previous recommendations for optimal current management of this disorder. The updated expert panel recommendations in this document represent recommended approaches for multiple etiologies of hyponatremia that are based on both consensus opinions of experts in hyponatremia and the most recent published data in this field.

Management of chronic kidney disease in an academic primary care clinic.

BACKGROUND: Three million people in the United States are estimated to have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Management of these CKD patients in the outpatient primary care clinic setting has not been well studied. HYPOTHESIS: Primary care management of CKD can be assessed and opportunities for improvement can be identified. METHODS: Management of CKD based on available published literature and guidelines was assessed in a single primary care site of an academic hospital with 23,000 annual visits and 8,300 patients. Charts of patients seen between October 1, 1997 and March 25, 1999 with an elevated SCr > or = 1.7 mg/dl on two separate measurements at least 6 months apart were reviewed for predefined indicators of CKD management. RESULTS: Assessment identified several aspects of CKD management to be suboptimal: control of blood pressure, use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, assessment of proteinuria, and renal consultation. Better management was found with respect to hemoglobin A1c measurement for diabetic patients. In general, CKD care was similar for diabetic and non-diabetic patients. CKD management was also similar regardless of level of creatinine clearance (> or = 50 vs. 50-30 vs. < or = 30 ml/min). CONCLUSION: CKD care can be measured in an outpatient academic primary care clinic and opportunities to improve were identified.