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Hypokalemia is a low level of potassium (K +) in the blood serum. [1] Mild low potassium does not typically cause symptoms. [3] Symptoms may include feeling tired, leg cramps, weakness, and constipation. [1] Low potassium also increases the risk of an abnormal heart rhythm, which is often too slow and can cause cardiac arrest. [1] [3]
Potassium resides mainly inside the cells of the body, so its concentration in the blood can range anywhere from 3.5 mEq/L to 5 mEq/L. [14] The kidneys are responsible for excreting the majority of potassium from the body. [14] This means their function is crucial for maintaining a proper balance of potassium in the blood stream.
Acid–base and blood gases are among the few blood constituents that exhibit substantial difference between arterial and venous values. [6] Still, pH, bicarbonate and base excess show a high level of inter-method reliability between arterial and venous tests, so arterial and venous values are roughly equivalent for these. [44]
The standard definition of a reference range for a particular measurement is defined as the interval between which 95% of values of a reference population fall into, in such a way that 2.5% of the time a value will be less than the lower limit of this interval, and 2.5% of the time it will be larger than the upper limit of this interval, whatever the distribution of these values.
Levels outside this range are associated with an increasing rate of death from multiple causes, [93] and some cardiac, kidney, [94] and lung diseases progress more rapidly if serum potassium levels are not maintained within the normal range.
Complications may include high blood potassium, low blood calcium, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and compartment syndrome. [3] Rhabdomyolysis is reported about 26,000 times a year in the United States. [3] While the condition has been commented on throughout history, the first modern description was following an earthquake in 1908. [11]
What potassium isotopes could say about Alzheimer’s risk. Using 20 blood samples — 10 from people with Alzheimer’s disease and 10 without — Mahan and his team compared levels of potassium ...
Insulin is given to reduce blood glucose concentration; however, as it also causes the movement of potassium into cells, serum potassium levels must be sufficiently high or dangerously low blood potassium levels may result. Once potassium levels have been verified to be greater than 3.3 mEq/L, then an insulin infusion of 0.1 units/kg/hr is ...