Analysis of the serum potassium level in 126 patients during acute attack of bronchial asthma
Objective To investigate clinical features of hypokalemia in patients with acute episode of bronchial asthma.Methods One hundred and twenty-six patients with moderate-to-severe asthma were divided into the asthma group.According to different glucocorticoid that the patients were administrated,the patients were then subdivided into dexamethasone group and methylprednisolone group.One hundred and fifty patients with pneumonia were selected as control group.The serum potassium concentration of patients in both group were determined.Results The serum potassium concentration of asthma group was significantly lower than that of the control group[（3.47±1.26）mmol/L vs（3.82±1.01） mmol/L,P0.01],and the serum potassium concentration of dexamethasone group was significantly lower than that of the methylprednisolone group[（3.39±1.37）mmol/L vs（3.49±1.66） mmol/L,P0.05].The incidence rate of hypokalemia was significantly higher in asthma group than in control group（28.6% vs 7.3%,P0.01）,and was significantly higher in dexamethasone group than in methylprednisolone group（61.49% vs 11.0%,P0.01）.Conclusion Hypokalemia is commonly observed in patients during the acute attack of bronchial asthma.Administration of dexamethasone can increase the incidence of hypokalemia.
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