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Int J Angiol 1994; 3(1): 142-147
DOI: 10.1007/BF02014933
Original Articles

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Changes in total body potassium during long-term thiazide treatment: Effects of potassium supplements on total body and serum potassium in hypertensive patients with thiazide treatment

Yutaka Doi, Waturu Aoi, Shin Suzuki, Shinji Seto, Koreaki Baba, Katusuke Yano
  • Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan
Sources of financial support for the study: Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education (C-60570400) Japan
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Publication History

Publication Date:
22 April 2011 (online)

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Abstract

To evaluate the effects of long-term treatment with diuretics on potassium metabolism in hypertensive patients, serum potassium (serum K) and total body potassium (TBK) were determined in 66 hypertensive patients receiving long-term trichlormethiazide therapy and in 42 hypertensive control patients receiving no medication. No significant change in serum K was observed during sixty months of thiazide therapy. Serum K was, however, decreased significantly in patients receiving thiazides for more than 60 months. TBK did not change significantly during the first 24 months of thiazide therapy, but it significantly decreased at 24 to 60 months of thiazide treatment (P < 0.01).

The effects of potassium supplementation on serum K and TBK during thiazide treatment were studied prospectively in 6 hypertensive patients. Serum K and TBK did not change by the administration of potassium chloride (16–24 mEq/day) and potassium gluconate (16–24 mEq/day), but spironolactone (75 mg/day) increased serum K and TBK during thiazide treatment (p < 0.05).

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