Background: It is a common practice to give intravenous fluids (IVF) that contain lower sodium concentration than is found in human serum (hypotonic saline) as maintenance fluids
Aim: To study the incidence of hyponatremia in children receiving hypotonic versus isotonic fluid as maintenance fluids.
Methods: This was a prospective randomized controlled trail, participants being 180 children with acute conditions requiring a minimum 50% of total maintenance fluid by intravenous route at-least for 24 hour period. Patients were randomized into three groups of 60 each, receiving intravenous maintenance fluids, 0.22DNS (hypotonic), 0.45DNS (hypotonic) and 0.9DNS (isotonic). Blood samples were collected on admission for baseline serum sodium and repeated after 24 hours.
Results: Patients receiving hypotonic fluids (0.22 and 0.45 DNS) showed decrease in mean sodium levels at 24 hours which was statistically significant (p
Key words: Hyponatremia, hypotonic fluids, isotonic fluids.
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