Hypokalemia at the Time of Admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Increases the Need for Mechanical Ventilation and Time of Ventilation in Critically Ill Trauma Patients

© 2017 Advanced Biomedical Research | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow Sir, For critically ill trauma patients who suffer from respiratory failure, mechanical ventilation (MV) is an essential and universal form of treatment.[1] Hypokalemia normally occurs immediately after trauma, and it appears that hypokalemia occurs more frequently in the more severely injured.[2,3] Hypokalemia, a frequent electrolyte imbalance encountered in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients.[4,5] In our research, we found that no investigation has been done on the relationship of hypokalemia with the need for connecting critically ill trauma patients to an MV, duration of MV or the length of stay in the ICU . The aim of this study is to defi ne the prevalence of hypokalemia on admission in critically ill trauma patients and to evaluate the relationship of the potassium level with organ failure, ventilator need, and duration of MV.