Severe hyponatremia as poor prognostic factor in childhood neurologic diseases

We determined the duration of hospital stay and neurologic sequelae in 72 patients divided into three groups according to the serum sodium level on admission. The mean duration of stay in those with normal sodium (Group I) was 18 days compared with 37 and 69 days for those with mild (Group II) and moderate to severe deficits (Group III) respectively. The differences were statistically significant (F=327.2, P<0.01). Thirty-one out of the 35 patients in Group I recovered fully; all the Group II subjects had residual deficit and all the 14 patients in Group III were either left with severe deficit (10) or died (4). Pediatric neurological cases having severe hyponatremia should be considered as a high risk group for poor outcome in spite of cautious correction.