The Prevalence of Electrolyte Disorders in Patients with Chronic Asthma

Asthma is one of the most common diseases and one of the major causes of morbidities which demands high cost. With improvement in research and management methods, electrolyte disorders have been considered in patients with asthma because these disorders may cause exacerbation of asthma and lead to severe complications and even death. However, it does not seem these disorders are side effects of drugs used by these patients and they may be a part of natural history or pathogenesis of the disease. Thus, due to the importance of these disorders in effective management of the patients, creating new treatment methods, decreasing complications and improving outcome of these patients, this study was carried out on 96 patients with chronic asthma to explore the above-mentioned subjects. Patients neither had hospitalization nor received intravenous aminophyline oral inhaler and intravenous beta-agonist and intravenous corticosteroid. None of the patients used alcohol or diuretics, was smoker and had co-existing disease. Sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphore and magnesium were measured in all of the patients. 45.8% of the patients were males and 54.2% were females. Mean age of males(49.8±3.5) was significantly more than that of females(41.2±3.1 P<0.05). The only electrolyte abnormality in this study was hypomagnesemia(10.4%). Mean plasma potassium level in patients that received inhalational beta-agonists(3.6 meq/dl) was significantly less than those who did not receive them (4.21 meq/dl, P<0.05). Also, mean plasma calcium concentration(10.4 mg/dl) in patients who took oral steroids was significantly more than those who did not receive them(8.8mg/dl, P<0.05). In conclusion, hypomagnesemia is the most common electrolyte disorder in patients with chronic asthma, which is not related to drugs used in these patients and may be a part of pathogenesis of this disease. Thus, treatment of hypomagnesemia may be effective in better control of asthma and decreasing its complications.