Urinary sodium as a predictor for heart failure readmission

Abstract

Congestion is the main reason for hospitalization of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). Symptoms of congestion, i.e. peripheral edema and dyspnea, are treated with diuretics. Nevertheless, ADHF patients have a 15% to 30% chance of hospital readmission 60 to 90 days after hospital discharge, respectively. We hypothesized that the urine composition of ADHF patients, the weeks following hospital discharge, serves as a predictor for congestion reoccurrence. Hospitalized ADHF patients, treated with loop-diuretics, underwent congestion examinations at baseline. At home, urine spot samples were collected twice a day over 14 days. Usage of the worsening congestion scale enabled to subdivide the study population in a non-congested and congested group, at follow-up. Comparison of the urinary sodium values of both groups illustrated that subjects of the non-congested group exceeded the values of the congested group. Demonstrating that urinary sodium output might be a metric to predict the risk of congestion reoccurrence.