Diabetes and drug-associated hyperkalemia: effect of potassium monitoring.

Background: Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors are associated with hyperkalemia, but there is little evidence demonstrating patients who receive potassium monitoring have a lower rate of hyperkalemia.

Objective: To evaluate the association between potassium monitoring and serious hyperkalemia-associated adverse outcomes among patients with diabetes newly initiating RAAS inhibitor therapy.

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Participants: Patients with diabetes without end-stage renal disease initiating RAAS inhibitor therapy between 2001 and 2006 at three integrated health care systems.

Measurements: Potassium monitoring and first hyperkalemia-associated adverse event during the initial year of therapy. Hyperkalemia-associated adverse events included hospitalizations, emergency department visits or deaths within 24 h of hyperkalemia diagnosis and/or diagnostic potassium >or=6 mmol/l. Incidence rates were calculated in person-years (p-y). We used inverse probability propensity score weighting to adjust for differences between patients with and without monitoring; Poisson regression was used to obtain adjusted relative risks.

Results: A total of 19,391 of 27,355 patients (71%) received potassium monitoring. Serious hyperkalemia-associated events occurred at an incidence rate of 10.2 per 1,000 p-y. Compared to patients without monitoring, adjusted relative risk of hyperkalemia-associated adverse events among all patients with monitoring was 0.50 (0.37, 0.66); in the subset of patients who also had chronic kidney disease (n = 2,176), adjusted relative risk was 0.29 (0.18, 0.46).

Conclusions: Patients prescribed RAAS inhibitors who have both diabetes and chronic kidney disease and receive potassium monitoring are less likely to experience a serious hyperkalemia-associated adverse event compared to similar patients who did not receive potassium monitoring. This evidence supports existing consensus-based guidelines.