Hospital Admission Sodium Levels and Patient Outcomes

Aggregating data from an observational study of 2.3 million hospitalized patients extracted from the Cerner Health Facts database between 2000 and 2014. It was used to analyze the association between low serum sodium levels at hospital admission and outcomes including in-hospital mortality and patient disposition.

Use Cases

• Model the risk of in-hospital mortality based on serum sodium levels at admission, using the reference interval of 140 to <143 mEq/L.
• Analyze the relationship between serum sodium levels and patient disposition outcomes such as discharge to hospice or a nursing facility.
• Compare the distribution of mortality risk associated with hyponatremia across different age groups (e.g., 18 to <45, 45 to <65, 65 to <75, ≥75).
• Investigate the prevalence of hyponatremia (serum sodium <135 mEq/L) among the 14.4% of hospitalized patients with this condition at admission.

Strengths

• Large-scale study comprising 2.3 million patient records.
• Data spans a 15-year period from 2000 to 2014.
• Analysis includes specific, clinically relevant outcomes: in-hospital mortality and patient disposition.

Limitations

• Specific column definitions, sample data, and dataset size are unknown, limiting reproducibility.
• As an observational study, it demonstrates association but not causation between sodium levels and outcomes.
• Data is sourced from a single database (Cerner Health Facts), which may limit generalizability.

Provenance

Source

Cerner Health Facts database

Collection Method

Data extraction for an observational study.

Time Range

2000 to 2014

Freshness

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Geography

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