Hypokalaemia denotes a state where the concentration of potassium in the plasma and the entire extracellular space is lower than 3.3 mmol/l.
Hypokalaemia is detected in 20% of hospitalised patients. Hypokalaemia is only mild in most cases.
Severe hypokalaemia is present in 5% of hospitalised patients; plasma potassium concentration being below 2.5 mmol/l.
In primary health care, hypokalaemia is detected in 10-40% of patients using diuretics.
Identifying the cause of hypokalaemia is essential for selecting appropriate treatment.
Potassium homeostasis
The plasma potassium level is regulated by shifting potassium between extracellular and intracellular spaces and through maintaining a balance between potassium intake and renal excretion.
Insulin and catecholamines regulate the entry of potassium into the intracellular space through stimulating the Na+/K+-ATPase enzyme on the cell membrane. An infusion of insulin and a strong adrenergic stimulation will, therefore, lead to hypokalaemia.
Aldosterone and other mineralocorticoids affect the body's potassium stores through regulating the excretion of potassium in the urine by activating the epithelial sodium channels in the renal tubules.
An excessive amount of mineralocorticoids will lead to hypokalaemia and their deficiency to hyperkalaemia.
A feedback system operates between plasma potassium concentration and aldosterone secretion; hyperkalaemia stimulates the secretion of aldosterone whereas hypokalaemia prevents its secretion.
The effect of aldosterone on the distal renal tubule is regulated by the amount of sodium delivered to the distal tubule and the acid-base balance. Low sodium delivery will suppress the kaliuretic effect of aldosterone.
The most common cause of hypokalaemia is the loss of potassium through the digestive tract or the use of diuretics.
It is important to identify hypokalaemia associated with hypertension, and consequently to suspect secondary hypertension and inappropriate activation of mineralocorticoid receptors.
Causes of hypokalaemia
Insufficient intake of dietary potassium is rarely the cause of hypokalaemia and is only possible where the daily intake is less than 1 g.
Anorexia nervosa
Chronic malnourishment
Excessive sweating or extensive burns may lead to loss of potassium through skin.
Often the condition in is caused by a mixture of several mechanisms.
Gastrointestinal loss
Infectious diarrhoea (e.g. salmonellosis or cholera)
Loss in the urine resulting from mineralocorticoid activity or impaired renal tubular ion transport
Hypokalaemia without hypertension
Diuretics
Alkalosis (chloride deficiency resulting from vomiting)
Magnesium deficiency
Disturbances in sodium and chloride transport (Bartter and Gitelman syndromes, congenital or acquired distal renal tubula acidosis, repair phase of tubular necrosis)
Antimicrobials (penicillin and its synthetic derivatives, amphotericin B, foscarnet)
Several cytostatic drugs
Hypokalaemia with hypertension
Primary hyperaldosteronism
Secondary hyperaldosteronism (renovascular and malignant hypertension, reninoma)
Hypercortisolism (of adrenal or hypothalamic origin, ectopic ACTH syndrome or pharmacological glucocorticoid therapy)
Hyperaldosteronism sensitive to glucocorticoid
Apparent mineralocorticoid excess (consumption of liquorice, deficiency of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydroxygenase, deoxycorticosterone-producing tumours)
Liddle's syndrome, pheochromocytoma
Shift of potassium into the intracellular space
Alkalosis
Beta-adrenergic agents
Theophylline
Caffeine
Insulin infusion
Hypokalaemic periodic paralysis
Rapid proliferation of leukaemia cells
Starting treatment for megaloblastic anaemia
Recognition
Hypokalaemia is diagnosed by determining the plasma potassium concentration
Hypokalaemia-induced ECG changes include T wave flattening and inversion, ST segment depression and the appearance of a U wave.
Symptoms
Hypokalaemia causes muscle weakness, asthenia, constipation, polyuria and loss of appetite
Muscular symptoms appear when plasma potassium concentration falls to below 2.5 mmol/l
Hypokalaemia of an abrupt onset may cause frank paralysis
Hypokalaemia increases the risk of cardiac arrhythmias (extrasystoles, conduction defects, tachyarrhythmias), especially in coronary heart disease, heart failure and in patients using digoxin.
Glucose control is impaired, since insulin excretion from beta cells is reduced and insulin resistance increases.
Diagnosis
Ask the patient about
use of diuretics, glucocorticoids, laxatives and other drugs that cause hypokalaemia
liquorice consumption
gastrointestinal symptoms (diarrhoea, vomiting).
Physical examination
Blood pressure
Appearance
Nutritional state
Tooth erosion
First line investigations: acid-base balance, plasma potassium, sodium, chloride, ionised calcium, magnesium, creatinine
ECG
For differential diagnosis it is essential to establish whether the patient is hypertensive or normotensive.
The differential diagnosis of hypokalaemia in a normotensive patient must include the evaluation of renal chloride excretion.
The differential diagnosis in hypertensive patients concentrates on the results of renin and aldosterone assays.
If the cause of hypokalaemia cannot be ascertained, further investigations are indicated:
24 hour urine sodium, potassium, chloride and magnesium
plasma renin activity and serum aldosterone
1 mg overnight dexamethasone suppression test, salivary cortisol test or 24 hour urine cortisol, if Cushing syndrome is suspected
urine pH.
A urine drug screen may be appropriate in order to diagnose surreptitious diuretic use.
Alkalosis as such will maintain kaliuresis despite existing hypokalaemia.
Treatment
The mainstay of treatment is discontinuation of drugs that reduce blood potassium concentration and the correction of potassium deficiency and possible magnesium deficiency.
The extent of potassium deficiency cannot be accurately assessed from the plasma potassium concentration. As a rule of thumb it may be considered that when potassium stores diminish by 100 mmol the plasma potassium concentration falls 0.3 mmol/l. If plasma potassium is 2.5 mmol/l, the body's potassium deficiency is at least 300 mmol.
Potassium deficiency is primarily corrected by administering 2-6 g potassium chloride by mouth. The daily dose is 25-80 mmol (1 g = 13 mmol).
The maximum hourly dose of intravenous potassium is 20 mmol, which would increase plasma potassium concentration by 1 mmol/l in the absence of ongoing potassium loss. In alkalosis some of the potassium administered is excreted in the urine, and the actual effect is, therefore, smaller.
Potassium is infused in a peripheral vein as a glucose solution (≤ 40 mmol/l); the solution infused in a central vein may be stronger.
The rapid correction of severe hypokalaemia requires continuous ECG monitoring, measurements of plasma potassium concentrations every 2-4 hours, and it is carried out in a unit with appropriate monitoring capacity.
Fluids containing glucose or administration of insulin may initially worsen the hypokalaemia as potassium is shifted into the intracellular space.
For the same reason, correction of metabolic acidosis by bicarbonate or treatment with a beta2-agonist is safest to start only when the potassium concentration is ≥ 3 mmol/l.
Hypomagnesaemia is corrected by administering magnesium sulphate 40-60 mmol/day by infusion or as an oral preparation containing magnesium 0.5-1.5 mmol/kg/day.
Drug therapies tailored according to the underlying disease in hypokalaemia are for example