Abstract
To evaluate the effects of long-term treatment with diuretics on potassium metabolism in hypertensive patients, serum potassium (serum K) and total body potassium (TBK) were determined in 66 hypertensive patients receiving long-term trichlormethiazide therapy and in 42 hypertensive control patients receiving no medication. No significant change in serum K was observed during sixty months of thiazide therapy. Serum K was, however, decreased significantly in patients receiving thiazides for more than 60 months. TBK did not change significantly during the first 24 months of thiazide therapy, but it significantly decreased at 24 to 60 months of thiazide treatment (P < 0.01).
The effects of potassium supplementation on serum K and TBK during thiazide treatment were studied prospectively in 6 hypertensive patients. Serum K and TBK did not change by the administration of potassium chloride (16–24 mEq/day) and potassium gluconate (16–24 mEq/day), but spironolactone (75 mg/day) increased serum K and TBK during thiazide treatment (p < 0.05).
