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Minerals, trace elements, Vit. D and bone health

Hyponatremia and hypokalemia as risk factors for falls

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 205–210 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

Fall accidents may reduce an individual’s quality of life and ability to perform the activities of daily life, and may delay recovery from illness. Consequently, medical institutions need to take measures to prevent falls. There are various risk factors for falls, including advanced age, illness and medication effects. Although hyponatremia and hypokalemia have been reported to increase the rate of falls, how they affect falls is not fully understood.

Subjects/methods:

We retrospectively examined 2948 patients, ⩾18 years old who had been hospitalized for ⩾3 days at Gifu (Japan) Municipal Hospital between May 2012 and April 2013 to determine the effects of hyponatremia and hypokalemia on the risk of falls. After the patients had been divided into fall and non-fall groups, their data were subjected to univariate and multiple regression analysis to identify significant differences.

Results:

The univariate analysis results revealed significant differences between the groups in terms of age (⩾65 years); the presence of hyponatremia, hypokalemia, central nervous system disease, cardiovascular disease and/or peripheral nerve/muscular disease; intake of medications that increase the risk of falls; and increased sedative dosage. The multivariate analysis results revealed significant differences between the groups in terms of the presence of hyponatremia (odds ratio (OR), 1.751; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.020–3.005), hypokalemia (OR, 2.209; 95% CI, 1.280–3.813), central nervous system disease (OR, 2.492; 95% CI, 1.629–3.814) and/or age ⩾65 years (OR, 2.180; 95% CI, 1.242–3.826).

Conclusions:

The results indicated that the presence of hyponatremia or hypokalemia increases the risk of falls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacy, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Gifu, Japan

    T Tachi, T Yokoi, Y Noguchi & H Teramachi

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Gifu Municipal Hospital, Gifu, Japan

    T Tachi, C Goto, M Umeda, M Yasuda & T Mizui

  3. Department of Nursing, Gifu Municipal Hospital, Gifu, Japan

    M Minamitani

  4. Community Health Support and Research Center, Gifu, Japan

    T Tsuchiya

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  1. T Tachi
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Correspondence to T Tachi.

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Tachi, T., Yokoi, T., Goto, C. et al. Hyponatremia and hypokalemia as risk factors for falls. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 205–210 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.195

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