Incidence of Electrolyte Imbalances Following Traumatic Rhabdomyolysis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abstract

Rhabdomyolysis, a medical condition caused by the destruction of striated muscle fibers, can have many etiologies, with the most common one being traumatic etiologies, that is, crushing injuries, heavy exertion, and being trapped under rubbles, and so forth. Rhabdomyolysis causes many complications, including acute kidney injury and different electrolyte imbalances, which later can cause cardiac dysrhythmia and even death as a result. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigate the incidence of imbalances of four important electrolytes among patients diagnosed with traumatic rhabdomyolysis. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases were searched for any article related to traumatic rhabdomyolysis using keywords related to the topic of our study, excluding case studies and case series. Relevant data were extracted from the included articles, and finally, a meta-analysis was performed on them to calculate the pooled incidence of each electrolyte imbalance. Collectively, 32 articles were included in our study (through the database and citation checking). The following were the pooled incidence of each electrolyte imbalance: hyperkalemia, 31% (95%CI 22%-41%); hypokalemia, 10% (95%CI 4%-17%); hypernatremia, 3% (95%CI 0%-8%); hyponatremia, 23% (95%CI 7%-44%); hypercalcemia, 0% (95%CI 0%-1%); hypocalcemia, 57% (95%CI: 22%-88%); hyperphosphatemia, 33% (95%CI 11%-59%); hypophosphatemia, 4% (95%CI 0%-16%). According to the meta-analyses, the rate of hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, hypocalcemia, and hyperphosphatemia is higher than their counterpart in patients diagnosed with traumatic rhabdomyolysis.