Study on hyponatremia in patients with severe dementia

Abstract

Objective To investigate the incidence and outcome of hyponatremia in patients with severe dementia. Methods Dementia patients were retrospectively analyzed in 80 cases, including 45 patients with severe dementia complicating 30 cases of hyponatremia, and 35 patients with mild and moderate dementia complicating 5 cases of hyponatremia.The incidence rate of dementia patients complicating hyponatremia and its fatality rate were analyzed by χ2 tests.The effect of dementia severity on hyponatremia and fatality rate was studied. Results The incidence rate of hyponatremia was higher in severe dementia patients(30 cases, 66.7%)than in mild-moderate dementia patients(5 cases, 14.3%)(χ2=21.95, P 0.05). Conclusions Hyponatremia is more likely to occur in patients with severe dementia.However, hyponatremia does not affect survival time in the severe dementia patients. Key words: Dementia; Hyponatremia