Hypochloremia May Be Predictor Of Mortality In Critically Ill Patients.

MedPage Today  (2/10, Bankhead) reports, "Hypochloremia proved to be a 'robust predictor' of all-cause mortality among critically ill patients, although the reasons for the association remained unclear," according to "a large cohort study" presented at the Society of Critical Care Medicine meeting. Researchers "analyzed data on 51,789 critically ill patients" and after adjusting for multiple variables, including sodium, found that hypochloremia was "an independent predictor of increased mortality across the range of ≤98 mEq/L to 104 mEq/L (OR 1.16 to OR 1.66, P=0.02 to P<0.001)."