Clinical and aetiological spectrum of hypokalemic flaccid paralysis in tertiary care hospital
Affiliation
Tehsil Headquarters Hospital; Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust; Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital; et al.Publication date
2023-10-17Subject
Cardiology
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Background and Aim: Hypokalemic flaccid paralysis refers to sudden muscle weakness caused by low levels of potassium in the body. This weakness affects respiratory and pharyngeal muscles and reaches its peak severity within a matter of days to weeks. The current study investigated the clinical and etiological spectrum of hypokalemic flaccid paralysis. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 136 hypokalemic flaccid paralysis patients in the Department of Medicine and Nephrology, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore from January 2022 to December 2022. Patient’s clinical presentation includes symptoms such as weakness, fever, difficulty in breathing, cough, heart beat variation, and vomiting etc. Improvement in clinical symptoms, complete improvement, and mortality rate were different outcomes measured. Results: The overall mean age was 12.46±3.82 years with an age range 1 year to 20 years. There were 86 (63.2%) male and 50 (36.8%) females. Guillain bare syndrome was the most prevalent disease 52 (38.2%) followed by viral myositis 37 (27.2%) at presentation. The incidence of various symptoms such as weakness, fever, headache, vomiting, and difficulty in breathing was 100% (n=136), 44.1% (n=60), 42.6% (n=58), 17.6% (n=24), and 13.2% (n=18) respectively. Following the treatment, 90 cases (66.2%) showed some improvement, whereas 24 patients (17.6%) did not experience any improvement. About 16 (11.8%) cases developed residual neurological disability whereas the mortality rate was 2.9% (n=4) during follow-up. Conclusion: The present study found that Guillain bare syndrome was the most prevalent disease followed by viral myositis. Treatment can improve acute flaccid paralysis in over 60% of patients.Citation
Abid M, Shoaib H, Haider A, Khan SU, Nazar T, Tahir T. Clinical and aetiological spectrum of hypokalemic flaccid paralysis in tertiary care hospital. J Popul Ther Clin Pharmacol. 2023 Oct 17; 30(18):610–615. doi:10.53555/jptcp.v30i18.3138Type
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Codon Publicationsae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.53555/jptcp.v30i18.3138