Table 1.
Patient characteristics during the six months prior to the inpatient admission by hyperkalemia severity during the inpatient stay.
| 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 = 15,083) | (N = 4,136) | (N = 2,574) | |||
| Demographics | |||||
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 64.6 (16.4) | 63.8 (16.8) | 63.0 (16.7) | < 0.01 * | < 0.001 * |
| Female, n (%) | 6,858 (45.5%) | 1,892 (45.7%) | 1,118 (43.4%) | 0.77 | 0.06 |
| Race, n (%) | <0.001 * | <0.001 * | |||
| White | 8,923 (59.2%) | 2,257 (54.6%) | 1,342 (52.1%) | ||
| Black or African American | 5,691 (37.7%) | 1,738 (42.0%) | 1,138 (44.2%) | ||
| Asian, other, or missing | 469 (3.1%) | 141 (3.4%) | 94 (3.7%) | ||
| Comorbidities | |||||
| CKD (stage 3–5), n (%) | 6,001 (39.8%) | 1,737 (42.0%) | 1,167 (45.3%) | < 0.05 * | <0.001 * |
| CKD stage among patients with CKD, n (%) | < 0.001 * | < 0.001 * | |||
| Stage 3 | 3,371 (56.2%) | 867 (49.9%) | 492 (42.2%) | ||
| Stage 4 | 996 (16.6%) | 301 (17.3%) | 229 (19.6%) | ||
| Stage 5 or ESKD | 1,634 (27.2%) | 569 (32.8%) | 446 (38.5%) | ||
| ESKD, n (%) | 559 (3.7%) | 192 (4.6%) | 183 (7.1%) | < 0.01 * | < 0.001 * |
| Acute kidney injury, n (%) | 2,250 (14.9%) | 672 (16.2%) | 463 (18.0%) | < 0.05 * | < 0.001 * |
| Type 2 diabetes, n (%) | 4,881 (32.4%) | 1,366 (33.0%) | 911 (35.4%) | 0.43 | < 0.01 * |
| Heart failure, n (%) | 3,423 (22.7%) | 1,013 (24.5%) | 615 (23.9%) | < 0.05 * | 0.19 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 8,754 (58.0%) | 2,397 (58.0%) | 1,536 (59.7%) | 0.94 | 0.13 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), mean (SD) | 2.1 (2.4) | 2.2 (2.4) | 2.3 (2.5) | 0.26 | < 0.05 * |
| Previous Treatments Used, n (%) | |||||
| Any RAASi use | 4,004 (26.5%) | 1,125 (27.2%) | 671 (26.1%) | 0.41 | 0.63 |
| SPS or patiromer | 550 (3.6%) | 202 (4.9%) | 197 (7.7%) | < 0.01 * | < 0.01 * |
| Any diuretics use | 4,559 (30.2%) | 1,290 (31.2%) | 777 (30.2%) | 0.24 | 0.99 |
| Any dialysis | 636 (4.2%) | 214 (5.2%) | 195 (7.6%) | < 0.01 * | < 0.001 * |
| Potassium Labs during Baseline | |||||
| Number of potassium labs, mean (SD) | 7.1 (14.9) | 7.6 (16.5) | 7.3 (14.9) | 0.09 | 0.54 |
| Proportion with at least 1 potassium lab, n (%) | 10,464 (69.4%) | 2,827 (68.4%) | 1,690 (65.7%) | 0.21 | < 0.01 * |
| Among patients with at least 1 potassium lab | |||||
| Any potassium labs >5 mEq/L, n (%) | 1,483 (14.2%) | 489 (17.3%) | 416 (24.6%) | < 0.001 * | < 0.001 * |
| Number of potassium labs >5 mEq/L, mean (SD) | 0.8 (2.3) | 1.0 (2.8) | 1.6 (3.9) | < 0.001 * | < 0.001 * |
*
p-values<0.05 were considered statistically significant; p-values for categorical variables were calculated using chi-squared tests; p-values for continuous variables were calculated using ANOVA tests.
CKD, chronic kidney disease; ESKD, end-stage kidney disease; N, number; RAASi, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor; SD, standard deviation; SPS, sodium polystyrene sulfonate