A Trend Survey on the Occurrence of Hypokalemia Associated with Posaconazole

Posaconazole (PSCZ) is a member of the azole class of antifungals used for the prophylaxis and treatment of invasive fungal infections. PSCZ exhibits fungistatic activity against most Candida, Aspergillus, and Mucor species. Hypokalemia associated with PSCZ is a major adverse effect that increases treatment discontinuation risk. This study was conducted to examine hypokalemia occurrence and its primary causes in 57 patients treated with PSCZ. Our results demonstrated that the incidence of hypokalemia was 29.8％. The median time to onset of hypokalemia was 7 days, with 76.5％ developing hypokalemia within 10 days, thereby indicating a tendency for hypokalemia to develop from the early stages of treatment; therefore, the risk factors for hypokalemia in patients who developed hypokalemia within 10 days were examined. As a result of the logistic regression analysis, T-Bil (≧0.7 mg/dL) (OR = 9.77, 95％ CI = 1.10 – 87.10, P = 0.041) was detected as a significant factor. It is important to regularly monitor serum potassium levels and adjust for the presence of hypokalemia.