Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Urine sodium levels help diagnose Addison's disease in dogs with low
By Lennon, E M et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2018·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Urine sodium concentrations are predictive of hypoadrenocorticism in hyponatraemic dogs: a retrospective pilot study.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with low sodium levels in their blood (hyponatraemia) were tested to see if measuring sodium in their urine could help determine if they had hypoadrenocorticism (a condition where the adrenal glands don't produce enough hormones). The study found that dogs with hypoadrenocorticism had much higher urine sodium levels compared to those with other causes of low sodium. Specifically, no dog with hypoadrenocorticism had a urine sodium level below 30 mmol/L, suggesting that if a dog has low urine sodium, hypoadrenocorticism is unlikely. This information could help vets diagnose the condition more accurately.
People also search for: dog low sodium levels · hypoadrenocorticism symptoms in dogs · dog urine sodium test results
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To determine if a urine sodium concentration could be used to rule out hypoadrenocorticism in hyponatraemic dogs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records were reviewed for hyponatraemic dogs (serum sodium<135 mmol/L) that had recorded urine sodium concentrations. Twenty hyponatraemic dogs were included: 11 diagnosed with classical hypoadrenocorticism and nine with non-adrenal causes of hyponatraemia. A Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare results between groups. RESULTS: No dog with hypoadrenocorticism had a urine sodium concentration less than 30 mmol/L. Urine sodium concentration in dogs with hypoadrenocorticism was significantly higher (median 103 mmol/L, range: 41 to 225) than in dogs with non-adrenal illness (median 10 mmol/L, range: 2 to 86) (P<0·0005). Serum sodium concentrations were not significantly different between dogs with hypoadrenocorticism and dogs with non-adrenal illness. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that urine sodium concentrations can be used to prioritise a differential diagnosis of hypoadrenocorticism in hyponatraemic dogs. A urine sodium concentration less than 30 mmol/L in a hyponatraemic dog makes classical hypoadrenocorticism an unlikely cause of the hyponatraemia. Nevertheless, because of the small sample size our results should be interpreted with caution and a larger follow-up study would be valuable.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29266322/