POTASSIUM SUPPLEMENTS AND CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE

Abstract

There is evidence that dietary supplements of potassium when given as an adjunct to the treatment of congestive heart failure are efficacious in certain circumstances. Mortality rates may be lowered in some groups of patients, and the serum sodium rises, indicating a probable improvement in the associated metabolic disorder. It is not possible from these studies to define the precise characteristics of episodes of congestive failure that apparently respond to potassium supplements; however the most direct evidence of efficacy of potassium in this series was found in the group of female patients, and in the group of non-rheumatic etiology. These groups had a lower proportion of patients with a history of 5 years or longer of heart failure (exertional dyspnea). Episodes characterized by hyponatraemia also seem to respond to potassium supplements. In the group of episodes for which potassium was prescribed, both rises and falls in serum potassium were more common than in the control groups, and falls were as frequent as rises. In those patients in whom there was a rise in serum potassium, dangerous levels were never reached. In these patients the rise in serum potassium is not related to the dosage of potassium salts; it is possibly altogether independent of this treatment. The risks of administering potassium supplements are evidently low. The results of this study are provisional and approximate.