Exchangeable potassium in heart disease: Long-term effects of potassium supplements and amiloride

Potassium depletion in heart failure and its relation to long-term treatment with diuretics: a review of the literature

“…But the linear relation of Ke on weight does not pass through the origin so that the ratio varies with weight and cannot be used to correct for differences of weight. The same argument probably applies to the ratios of potassium to dry body weight (Cox et al, 1971) and lean body mass (Croxson et al, 1972). An alternative approach is to use linear regression to match the patients and the controls in terms of weight as well as age and height.…”

“…1954; Moore et al, 1954;Wilson et al, 1954;Birkenfeld et al, 1958;Deuxchaisnes et al, 1961;Flear et al, 1966;Singh, Hurley and North, 1969;White et al, 1969;Cox et al, 1971;Croxson, Neutze and John, 1972). For the subsequent, more detailed analyses, the authors collated all the published values they could find for exchangeable potassium in healthy persons and patients with heart failure, where the individual's sex, age and weight were available as well as the exchangeable potassium.…”

“…Height was noted if it had been measured, and for each patient with heart failure it was noted whether the patient was oedematous and if he was taking diuretics alone or with potassium supplements. Details were collected of 345 healthy controls (Corsa et al, 1950;Aikawa et al, 1952;Deane and Smith, 1952;Arons, Vanderlinde and Solomon, 1954;Blainey et al, 1954;Moore et al, 1954;Wilson et al, 1954;Ikkos et al, 1955;Sagild, 1956;Ljunggren, Ikkos and Luft, 1957;Birkenfeld et al, 1958;Crookes, Bluhm and Muldowney, 1959;MacGillivray, Buchanan and Billewicz, 1960;Talso et al, 1960;Deuxchaisnes et al, 1961;Singh et al, 1969;Cox et al, 1971;Skrabal, Arnot and Joplin, 1973); and 333 patients with heart disease (Aikawa et al, 1952;Blainey et al, 1954;Moore et al, 1954;Wilson et al, 1954;Aikawa and Fitz, 1956;Birkenfeld et al, 1958;Deuxchaisnes et al, 1961;Olesen, 1964;Carroll, Gotterer and Altshuler, 1965;Flear et al, 1966;Olesen, 1968;Singh et al, 1969;White et al, 1969;Cox et al, 1971;Croxson et al, 1972;Davidson and Gillebrand, 1974;Olesen and Valentine, 1973).…”

Relation of plasma aldosterone concentration to diuretic treatment in patients with severe heart disease.

“…The reduction in total exchangeable potassium may be, in the main, an indication of a loss of lean body mass as part of wasting which may be occult (Walesby et al, 1978) or evident in the extreme as 'cardiac cachexia', but local critical reductions in intracellular K concentration cannot 316 be excluded (Hamer, 1977). The plasma potassium seems to be part of a labile component of the body potassium which varies without relation to total body stores (Croxson et al, 1972;Nagant de Deuxchaisnes and Mach, 1974;Nicholls et al, 1976) and cannot be used to predict potassium depletion. Plasma potassium may be relatively easily maintained by dietary supplements or aldosterone antagonists with relatively little effect on tissue potassium (White, 1970;Croxson et al, 1972;Davidson and Gillebrand, 1973;Kremer et al, 1977).…”

Fiftieth anniversary of aldosterone: from discovery to cardiovascular therapy

“…Aldosterone antagonists were found to be more effective than dietary supplementation of potassium in the long-term correction of tissue potassium losses [122][123][124]. Aldosterone antagonists also correct cellular magnesium deficiency [125,126].…”