Prevalence of hypokalemia and its correlation with hematological
parameters and biomarkers of inflammation in adult COVID-19 patients in
southeastern Iran, 2021-2022: a cross-sectional study
Abstract
Background Since the COVID-19 outbreak, various studies have shown that
hypokalemia is a common disorder, and it has been established that
abnormalities in inflammatory biomarkers and complete blood count test
(CBC) parameters are associated with the severity of the disease. So,
this study investigates the association between hypokalemia and
abnormalities in biomarkers of inflammation and CBC parameters, as well
as the severity of COVID-19. Methods This single-centered
cross-sectional study was conducted on 527 adult COVID-19 patients
admitted to Afzalipour Hospital in Kerman, Iran, between March 2021 and
March 2022. All patients had positive PCR tests, and their data was
collected from electronic records. The relationship between hypokalemia
and laboratory results, length of hospitalization, ICU admission, and
mortality was analyzed by SPSS 27. Results A total of 527 COVID-19
patients with an average age of 53.6 years and an average duration of
hospitalization of 7.89 days were reviewed retrospectively. Most of the
patients were hospitalized in the general wards (90.5%) and recovered
(89.2%). In this study, the prevalence of hypokalemia was 12%, and
there was no significant correlation with demographic data or laboratory
findings, including ESR, CRP, LDH, lymphocyte, and platelet counts.
There was also no association between hypokalemia and length of
hospitalization, ICU admission, or mortality. Conclusion In total, it
was found that 12% of COVID-19 patients had hypokalemia, and no
significant association was found between hypokalemia and demographic
data, laboratory findings, duration of hospital stay, ICU admission, or
mortality.