Insight in the Development and Recovery of Hypernatremia in Critically Ill Patients.

Hypernatremia is frequently encountered in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and associated with increased mortality and length of stay. The main mechanism is an imbalance between sodium and total body water. Consequently, this poses multiple factors to play a role in the development of hypernatremia. multifactorial. Previous studies focused on predictors in the development of hypernatremia by including amount and types of administered medication, fluid balance, laboratory results and changes in vital signs. However, data of larger populations or data on infusion rates, fluid and salt balance or renal replacement therapy is lacking. Few studies investigated the recovery of hypernatremia, which showed that correction of hypernatremia can reduce the associated mortality risk.

This study aims to provide better insight in the development and recovery of hypernatremia through the collection of detailed information on the input and output of fluids and salts in a larger group of patients than studied before.