PloS one
Mathematical analysis of the relationship between glucose and sodium in a large Swedish cohort of critically ill patients
By Broman ME and Forsal I.
Abstract
Background
Hyperglycemia causes compensatory decrease of plasma sodium concentration by an influx of water from the cellular compartment. When the glucose level is corrected, the sodium concentration will follow and increase to its original level.
Methods
A complex MATLAB script incorporating the Katz and Hillier correction formulas was developed to evaluate the impact of hyperglycemia on sodium levels and to analyze sodium shifts in 9,863 patients across 297,714 paired sodium-glucose measurements. Intensive care unit (ICU) mortality and morbidity data were extracted for the full cohort to assess outcomes.