Correlation of sodium and potassium results on arterial blood gas analyzer with standard electrolyte analyzer among critically ill patients admitted in rural tertiary care hospital.

Dr.Rutuja. Bangal; Dr. Akshaya N Shetti; Dr. Singla Bhavika

Volume : VIII, Issue : XI, November - 2019

Correlation of sodium and potassium results on arterial blood gas analyzer with standard electrolyte analyzer among critically ill patients admitted in rural tertiary care hospital.

Dr. Rutuja. Bangal, Dr. Akshaya N Shetti, Dr. Singla Bhavika

Abstract :

Electrolyte assessment is very important in critically ill patients. Every attempt is made to get quick and accurate readings of serum electrolytes especially sodium and potassium. Due to lack of facility or no affordability of the patient, multiple times electrolyte assessment in a developing country is really challenging. The venous serum electrolyte is time consuming as it has to be processed in the laboratory unlike arterial blood analysis. Aims and objectives: To compare and correlate values of arterial sample electrolytes analyzed by the blood gas analyzer with venous serum electrolytes in critically ill patients. Settings and Design: This is a descriptive cross sectional study done at rural tertiary care hospital. Methods and Material: After approval of institutional ethical committee and written informed consent from 70 patients� immediate relative this study was conducted. A heparinized blood sample was obtained by an experienced doctor. The same doctor did venous blood sampling for serum electrolytes within 5 minutes. Both samples were sent to central clinical laboratory for assessment. The reports were collected and recorded. Statistical analysis used: The sample size calculation was done based on previous study and was 10. Considering the patient load we took 70 patients. Pearson�s correlation test was used to correlate sodium and potassium of both arterial and venous blood samples. Results: The correlation coefficient r= 0.2 for potassium and for sodium, r= 0.57 indicating positive correlation. Considering the r value, sodium has higher positive correlation than potassium. Conclusion: The electrolyte results i.e. sodium and potassium in arterial blood gas analyzer report are having positive correlation with the reports of venous blood.