Abstract Rationale Electrolyte imbalances are common in critically ill patients and are often associated with increased morbidity, prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and mortality (1). In burn patients, such alterations may reflect injury severity and systemic inflammatory response; however, their direct relationship with ICU utilization remains unclear (2,3). This study aimed to classify preoperative serum sodium, potassium, and magnesium levels in burn patients and analyze their correlation with ICU length of stay. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted including all adult burn patients admitted to a hospital between 2023 and 2024. Preoperative serum electrolytes were categorized as follows: Sodium: 135 mmol/L (hyponatremia), 135-145 (normal), 145 (hypernatremia). Potassium: 3.5 mmol/L (hypokalemia), 3.5-5.5 (normal), 5.5 (hyperkalemia). Magnesium: 0.6 mmol/L (hypomagnesemia), 0.6-1.0 (normal), 1.0 (hypermagnesemia). ICU stay duration (days) was compared among categories using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were computed to assess associations between continuous electrolyte values and ICU stay. Statistical significance was defined as p 0.05. Results A total of 234 patients with complete data were included. Hyponatremia was identified in 22 patients (9.4%), hypernatremia in 4 (1.7%). Potassium abnormalities were rare (2 with hypokalemia, 1 with hyperkalemia), while all magnesium values were within normal limits. The median ICU stay for the cohort was 14 days (IQR: 7-27). No statistically significant differences were observed in ICU length of stay across sodium categories (p = 0.2068) or potassium categories (p = 0.2466). Correlations between continuous electrolyte concentrations and ICU stay were weak and non-significant (|ρ| 0.15 for all). These findings diverge from patterns described in general ICU populations, suggesting that in burn patients, total body surface area and injury severity may exert greater influence on ICU utilization than isolated electrolyte values. Conclusion In this cohort, preoperative sodium and potassium abnormalities were infrequent and not significantly associated with ICU stay duration. Although electrolyte disturbances are clinically relevant in burn care, their isolated presence may not independently predict ICU resource demand. Broader physiological indicators, such as burn extent, hemodynamic instability, and systemic inflammation, may better inform prognostication and triage in this population. This abstract is funded by: None
Romero et al. (Fri,) studied this question.