ETIOLOGY AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF HYPONATREMIA IN CRITICALLY ILL PATIENTS

For 1 year all patients in the Department of General Surgery who were transferred to the intensive care unit (n = 237) were prospectively st udied as to the development of hyponatremia. Relevant hyponatremia dev eloped in 6.3 % of the patients. The lowest sodium concentration obser ved was 121 mmol/l, the mean duration was 1.2 days. In general, hypona tremia is related to hypovolemia and diuretics are often involved. In no patient were there any clinical consequences.