Background: Lower respiratory infection (LRTI) is one of the serious illnesses, especially in less than 5 years of age group requiring hospitalization and contributes to 30% of deaths yearly worldwide mainly due to pneumonia as the leading cause. Aim This study aimed to find the association of hyponatremia (serum sodium less than 135 mEq/L) with severe LRTI. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 children admitted to PICU with severe LRTI including bronchopneumonia (BPN), lobar pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and empyema, all children were subjected to full history taking, complete clinical examination and investigations as complete blood count, arterial blood gases, C-reactive protein, potassium and sodium levels and radiological investigations as chest X-ray and chest CT . The conditions were assessed by PRESS score. Results: Most cases had normal sodium (63%), 3% had severe hyponatremia, 10% had moderate hyponatremia, 19% had mild hyponatremia, and 5% had hypernatremia.
Children with hyponatremia had statistically higher frequencies of MV, mortality and statistically longer duration of oxygen support and hospital stay. At sodium level |
