Objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of hyponatremia in various age groups of patients with pneumonia.

Methods: A detail history, clinical examinations and relevant investigations were performed in all admitted patients with pneumonia. Patients were diagnosed to have pneumonia based on clinical signs and symptoms, and confirmed with chest radiograph showing lobar/segmental or patchy consolidation. Electrolyte analysis was performed by Eshweiler electrolyte analyser based on the principle of Direct ISE.

Results:  Data was analyzed by using One -sample statistics methods with the help of IBM SPSS version 26 software.  Pair wise comparison was performed. Mean ± Standard deviations and t values were observed. P value was taken less than or equal to (p≤0.05) 0.05 for significant differences.

Conclusions: Hyponatremia is the most significantly seen in (age≤ 5 years) admitted paediatric patients. Male is more suffered than female.  Mild hyponatremia is very common in patients with pneumonia. Hence, Initial measurement of serum sodium is recommended in all hospitalized pneumonia patients and patients showing hyponatremia on admission should get special attention as it is a strong independent indicator of higher morbidity and mortality. Hyponatremic patients should undergo further study of urine sodium and osmolality to assess fluid status before imposing fluid restriction. Hospital acquired and Hospital aggravated hyponatremia are also well-known events in paediatric practice due to routine use of hypotonic fluid are maintenance and one should be cautious about fluid management of those diseases prone to cause SIADH including pneumonia. Regular follow up of serum sodium level during the period of hospital stay should be considered to pick up the high risk cases at an early stage.

Keywords:  Hyponatremia, pneumonia, age group.

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Dr Jyoti Kumari

Senior Resident, Department of Biochemistry, AIIMS, Patna, Bihar, India