Table 1.
Baseline characteristics among patients with mild, moderate, and severe hyperkalemia during the 6 months prior to the ED visit
| Mild hyperkalemia | Moderate hyperkalemia | Severe hyperkalemia | p values | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| > 5.0–5.5 mEq/L | > 5.5–6.0 mEq/L | > 6.0 mEq/L | Mild vs. moderate | Mild vs. severe | |
| (N = 4432) | (N = 1085) | (N = 705) | |||
| Demographics | |||||
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 61.9 (18.5) | 62.1 (18.0) | 62.0 (17.7) | 0.76 | 0.97 |
| Female, n (%) | 2292 (51.7%) | 563 (51.9%) | 337 (47.8%) | 0.94 | 0.06 |
| Race, n (%) | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | |||
| White | 2178 (49.1%) | 486 (44.8%) | 382 (54.2%) | ||
| Black or African American | 2185 (49.3%) | 579 (53.4%) | 307 (43.5%) | ||
| Asian, other, or missing | 69 (1.5%) | 20 (1.8%) | 16 (2.3%) | ||
| Comorbidities | |||||
| CKD (stage 3–5), n (%) | 1768 (39.9%) | 515 (47.5%) | 353 (50.1%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| CKD stage among patients with CKD, n (%) | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | |||
| Stage 3 | 942 (53.3%) | 240 (46.6%) | 171 (48.4%) | ||
| Stage 4 | 305 (17.3%) | 92 (17.9%) | 54 (15.3%) | ||
| Stage 5 or ESRD | 521 (29.5%) | 183 (35.5%) | 128 (36.3%) | ||
| ESRD, n (%) | 228 (5.1%) | 91 (8.4%) | 64 (9.1%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Acute kidney injury, n (%) | 633 (14.3%) | 179 (16.5%) | 154 (21.8%) | 0.07 | < 0.001 |
| Type 2 diabetes, n (%) | 1618 (36.5%) | 431 (39.7%) | 288 (40.9%) | 0.05 | < 0.05 |
| Heart failure, n (%) | 959 (21.6%) | 264 (24.3%) | 154 (21.8%) | 0.06 | 0.94 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 2731 (61.6%) | 708 (65.3%) | 452 (64.1%) | < 0.05 | 0.22 |
| RAASi use, n (%) | 1378 (31.1%) | 344 (31.7%) | 230 (32.6%) | 0.72 | 0.44 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), mean (SD) | 1.9 (2.3) | 2.2 (2.4) | 2.4 (2.5) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Previous treatments used, n (%) | |||||
| SPS or patiromer | 238 (5.4%) | 102 (9.4%) | 89 (12.6%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Diuretics | 1267 (28.6%) | 319 (29.4%) | 275 (39.0%) | 0.62 | < 0.001 |
| Dialysis | 241 (5.4%) | 96 (8.8%) | 71 (10.1%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Potassium labs during baseline | |||||
| Number of potassium labs, mean (SD) | 5.9 (12.7) | 7.6 (15.7) | 11.0 (22.0) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Proportion with at least 1 potassium lab, n (%) | 2948 (66.5%) | 757 (69.8%) | 487 (69.1%) | < 0.05 | 0.18 |
| Among patients with at least 1 potassium lab | |||||
| Any potassium labs > 5 mEq/L, n (%) | 543 (18.4%) | 211 (27.9%) | 189 (38.8%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Number of potassium labs > 5 mEq/L, mean (SD) | 1.1 (3.0) | 1.8 (3.6) | 3.0 (5.7) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
p values for categorical variables were calculated using chi-squared tests; p values for continuous variables were calculated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests
CKD chronic kidney disease, ED emergency department, ESRD end-stage renal disease, N number, RAASi renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitor, SD standard deviation, SPS sodium polystyrene sulfonate