Hypernatremia in the neurologic intensive care unit: how high is too high?
Aiyagari V; Deibert E; Diringer MN Neurology/Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit, Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA. aiyagari@uic.edu Hypernatremia is associated with increased mortality in hospitalized patients and in medical/surgical intensive care units. This relationship has not been studied in neurologic/neurosurgical intensive care units (NNICUs), where hypernatremia is often a component of treatment of cerebral edema. We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data in patients admitted to the NNICU over a 6.5-year period. Hypernatremia (serum sodium >150 mEq/L) was seen in 339 patients (7.9%) and was more common (24.3%) in patients who were treated with mannitol. Hypernatremic patients had a lower median admission Glasgow Coma Scale score (8 vs 14, P 160 mEq/L) was independently associated with increased mortality. Other factors independently associated with mortality were age, mechanical ven
