Introduction: Malaria is among the most widespread infectious diseases known to humans. Electrolyte imbalance is one of the major consequences of malaria with studies reporting change in the serum sodium and potassium concentration. Since electrolyte imbalance is relatively unexplored complication. The present study was conducted to determine distribution of sodium and potassium level in patients with different type of malaria and to determine the most common serum abnormality. Material and methods: This was an observation cross sectional. The diagnosis of malaria was made with examination of the peripheral smears and malarial antigen detection rapid card test. 114 diagnosed cases of malaria were enrolled in the study. Evaluation of serum electrolyte (Sodium, Potassium) was done. The data was collected in pre-prepared proforma and then transferred to a master chart for analysis. ANOVA test or Kruskal-Wallis non parametric ANOVA test was used. Level of significance was considered as P≤0.05. Software used for analysis was Graph Pad Prism. Results: Plasmodium Vivax was the most common type of malarial infection. The average serum sodium and potassium among study participants was 132.41 ± 3.11 mEq/L and 3.67 ± 0.40mEq/L respectively. Average serum sodium level was less in the patients affected with Plasmodium falciparum infection. Mild hypokalemia was seen in 50 (43.85%) patients whereas moderate was seen in 1.75% patients. Conclusion: Hyponatremia was the most common electrolyte abnormality followed by hypokalemia seen in malaria infection. Electrolyte abnormalities is a common feature in malarial infection and should be monitored regularly.
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