ELECTROLYTE DISTURBANCES IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS WITH ACUTE HEART FAILURE AND THEIR IMPACT ON OUTCOME

Background: Acute heart failure is a considerable burden on healthcare systems, especially in places with limited resources. It is a leading cause of hospitalization and death among adult patients worldwide. Electrolyte disturbances are common in patients hospitalized with acute heart failure, and they are caused by complicated pathophysiological factors such as neurohormonal activation, renal dysfunction, hemodilution, and the use of diuretics and other heart failure drugs. Objectives: Is to determine the pattern of electrolyte abnormalities among patients admitted to Tuz General Hospital with acute heart failure. Methods: This is a hospital-based observational study. It was conducted between the 15th of June 2024 to the end of October 2025 at the Internal Medicine Department of Tuz General Hospital, Salah Al-Din Governorate, Iraq. The study included patients aged more than or equal to 18 years with a clinical diagnosis of acute heart failure as well as the with affordability of serum electrolyte results within the first 24 hours of admission. On the other hand, patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis or with medical conditions or medications known to cause severe electrolyte disturbances unrelated to heart failure were excluded. The questionnaire was composed from four parts. The first part for patients’ demographic information. The second part for patients’ comorbidities. The third part for patients’ vital signs at admission. The fourth part for laboratory investigations. Results: The study includes 330 patients with heart failure, of them 30 patients had electrolyte disturbances and 300 patients without electrolyte disturbances. The mean age ± standard deviation of the study participants is 74.27 ± 6.42 years. Males represent 175 (53.03%) patients and female represent 155 (46.97%) patients with Male: Female ratio was 1.12:1. Comparison between patients with electrolytes disturbances and those without electrolyte disturbances shows statistically significant difference regarding their mean age (P value <0.001), gender (P value < 0.001), the presence of hypertension (P value <0.001), diabetes mellitus (P value < 0.001), ischemic heart disease (P value = 0.012), their pulse (P value <0.001), blood pressure (P value < 0.001) and respiratory rate (P value < 0.001). Conclusion: The study found among heart failure patients, elderly, male patients as well as patients already have hypertension, diabetes and ischemic heart disease are more liable for electrolytes disturbance, which is a fatal complication and indicating poor outcome of patients with heart failure.