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Evidence summaries

Emergency Interventions for Hyperkalaemia

There is insufficient evidence on the clinical outcomes of emergency interventions for hyperkalemia. Level of evidence: "D"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 12 studies. None of the studies of clinically-relevant hyperkalaemia reported mortality or cardiac arrhythmias. Reports focussed on serum potassium levels. Many studies were small, and not all intervention groups had sufficient data for meta-analysis to be performed. On the basis of small studies, inhaled beta-agonists, nebulised beta-agonists, and intravenous (IV) insulin-and-glucose were all effective, and the combination of nebulised beta agonists with IV insulin-and-glucose was more effective than either alone. Dialysis is effective. Results were equivocal for IV bicarbonate. K-absorbing resin was not effective by four hours, and longer follow up data on this intervention were not available from RCTs.

References

  • Mahoney BA, Smith WA, Lo DS, Tsoi K, Tonelli M, Clase CM. Emergency interventions for hyperkalaemia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2005 Apr 18;(2):CD003235. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords