The arrhythmic danger of hypokalaemia

A retrospective analysis was carried out of the progress of 152 patients admitted to a coronary care unit in relation to their serum potassium level on entry. The records showed that there was a significantly higher (p less than 0.05) death rate for all admissions and those with a confirmed diagnosis of myocardial infarction when serum potassium levels were lower than 3.6 mmol/l, even though there was no significant difference in total arrhythmias within the groups. There was a similar trend in patients aged 65 years or over.