A Non-interVentional, multI-center and longiTudinAL Study to Describe the Use of SodIum Zirconium CyclosilicatE (LokelmaTM) in Patients Diagnosed With Hyperkalemia in the Real-world Setting in Spain: VITALIZE Study

Potassium metabolism disorders are among the most frequent electrolyte disturbances in clinical practice, with a spectrum of variable severity. A normal potassium level is critical for proper muscle, heart, and nerve function. An excessive level of potassium can cause abnormal heart rhythms and interfere with the functioning of skeletal muscles.

Hyperkalaemia is defined by a serum potassium concentration above the upper limit of normal: K+ ≥ 5 or 5.5 mEq/L, according to guidelines. It is considered mild when the potassium concentrations are between 5 to 5.5 mEq/L, moderate between 5.5 and 6 mEq/L, and severe if potassium concentrations are higher than 6 mEq/L. Hyperkalaemia is the most serious electrolyte disturbance because it can cause fatal ventricular arrhythmias in minutes.

In a recent meta-analysis, the pooled prevalence of hyperkalaemia (by any definition/threshold) in all adult patients was 6.3% (95%CI 5.8-6.8%) with an incidence of 2.8 cases per 100 person years, while prevalence and incidence were lower in the general population (1.3% (95%CI 1.0-1.8) and 0.4 per 100 person years, respectively). also found that the prevalence was 7.5% in non-dialysis CKD, 8.3% in diabetes, 8.0% in heart failure and 35% in dialysis-dependent CKD, demonstrating that hyperkalaemia risk is influenced by the presence or absence of underlying comorbid conditions. The incidence of hyperkalaemia also increases in the elderly population treated with drugs that induce hyperkalaemia, such as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi): angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), renin inhibitors, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA) or potassium-sparing diuretics.

Sodium Zirconium Cyclosilicate (SZC), commercialized as LokelmaTM, is a potassium binder indicated to treat hyperkalaemia constituted by two treatment phases, an initial correction phase (10 g/3 times daily/oral), which is followed by a maintenance phase once patients reach normokalaemia (after 24-48h) (5g/once daily). LokelmaTM was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in March 2018 and was launched in Spain in Q2 2021 after having demonstrated its efficacy and safety in different populations, doses, and timelines in several clinical trials.

With the aim of giving greater support to these results and, above all, in the context of the Spanish population, complementary data are needed to understand to what extent the broad group of patients in usual clinical practice achieve normokalaemia and maintain it over the study period after initiation with LokelmaTM. The project's goal is to generate real world evidence about the use and the effectiveness of SZC (LokelmaTM) in Spain, through a retrospective Non- Interventional Study (NIS).