Hyponatremia in the Elderly: Benefit From a Change in Drug Therapy?

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Mild hyponatremia is the commonest electrolyte imbalance in the older population. Recently, association between hyponatremia and bone fractures in the ambulatory elderly has been shown. Mild chronic hyponatremia is causing falls and lead to hospitalisation because of attention deficit. Symptoms related to hyponatremia can be very subtle and difficult to detect clinically. Twenty elderly patients, retirement homes residents, with serum sodium < 135mEq/L will be included. They will be randomised. The physician will review the drug treatment of ten patients in coordination with the opinion of pharmacologists. Drug treatment for ten other patients wil remained unchanged during the three months of inclusion. Useful elements of the medical records of patients randomized to the experimental arm will be forwarded to the Pharmacovigilance Regional Center for opinion pharmacologist. The notice, subject to the attention of physician of retirement homes, give rise to a therapeutic approach towards the patient. It will be followed by weekly monitoring of serum sodium for 4 weeks to evaluate the impact of the intervention. Thus, the effectiveness of medical intervention will be evaluated by an objective biological criteria: serum sodium in the fourth week. Secondary endpoints will evaluate the duration of normalization of serum sodium and check the interest of correcting hyponatremia to improve postural capacities and eventually reduce the number of falls in the medium term (three months).

Official Title
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Hyponatremia in the Elderly: Benefit From a Change in Drug Therapy?

Conditions
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Hyponatremia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: change in drug therapy


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Patient over 65 years Resident of dependent elderly Plasma sodium <135 mmol / l less than a week, confirming earlier hyponatremia within a week to three month agreement given after patient information Exclusion Criteria: Venous system does not allow sampling - Patient not taking medication-Dementia

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: change in drug therapy<br>Change in drug therapy with the help of the opinion of pharmacologists : the physician would review the drug treatment of ten residents in coordination with the opinion of pharmacologists | Other: change in drug therapy<br>* Change in drug therapy with the help of the opinion of pharmacologists : the physician would review the drug treatment of ten residents in coordination with the opinion of pharmacologists<br>|
| No Intervention: reference<br>drug treatment of ten patients will remain unchanged during the three months of inclusion | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Evaluate the benefit of a change of drug therapy following a review pharmacologist on the increase in serum sodium in elderly | Normalization serum sodium between S0 and S4 (4 weeks after medical intervention) | Fourth week | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Normalization of serum sodium-Evaluate the impact on the deficit postural S4-Evaluate the impact on the occurrence of falls | Changes in serum sodium weekly S1, S2, S3 - Evolution of the score evaluation of postural control: the Timed Up and Go test (TUG) between therapeutic intervention and S4-comparison of the number of falls between the period three months before and three months after surgery Medical Decision to three months whether to maintain the drug therapy changed | three months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Hyponatremia; Sodium level, Falls, Gait, elderly