ArticleCureus2025
Electrocardiographic Changes in Patients With Hypokalemia and Their Correlation With Serum Potassium Levels.
Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- [P-wave pattern].Herzschrittmachertherapie & Elektrophysiologie · 2026Article
- Prediction of hypokalemia in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: development and validation of a model with prehospital applicability.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDyselectrolytemias can cause significant changes in cardiac electrophysiology detectable through electrocardiography (ECG). Potassium in particular has a strong effect on the cardiac membrane potential, leading to characteristic rhythm variations when potassium levels are reduced or elevated. However, the degree of correlation between specific ECG changes and the severity of hypokalemia remains variably described in the literature.
objectiveTo study the association between the severity categories of hypokalemia and specific ECG waveform changes, and to examine the mechanisms by which hypokalemia may cause them.
methodsDuring the study period of three months, ECGs from patients with varying levels of hypokalemia were obtained as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria after obtaining informed consent. ECGs were grouped according to corresponding potassium levels (mild 3-3.4 mEq/L, moderate 2.5-3 mEq/L, and severe <2.5 mEq/L). ECGs were analyzed for morphology and the durations of the waves, segments, and intervals. Statistical analysis was performed with a chi-square test to determine associations between individual ECG features and potassium levels.
resultsUnivariate analysis showed no statistically significant relationship between the category of severity of hypokalemia and disordered heart rate (p = 0.292), the presence of a tall P wave (0.089), prolonged PR interval (0.310), and QRS width (0.075). There were statistically significant associations between the category of severity of hypokalemia and prolonged QT interval (p = 0.013), presence of ST segment depressions (p < 0.001), presence of T-wave flattening/inversions (p = 0.007), and presence of U waves (p < 0.001).
conclusionECG changes, particularly the presence of U waves, ST depression, T-wave flattening/inversion, and QT prolongation, are reliable markers of hypokalemia severity, supporting the use of ECG as a rapid bedside diagnostic tool and guiding emergent management. The importance of identifying ECG changes and the mechanisms of these changes has been discussed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.