Hypokalemia and rhabdomyolysis

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The adverse drug event manager of the Capital Region of Denmark received a report of a 65-year-old male with type II diabetes and long-lasting treatment with indapamide. In addition, he had a history of a high consumption of licorice. For 2 weeks, the patient suffered from myalgia, which the general practitioner suspected to be polymyalgia rheumatica and referred him to the hospital. Initial blood samples revealed a reduced potassium concentration of 1.5 mmol/L (reference value: 6.6-4.6 mmol/L) and an elevated creatine kinase of 18,400 IU/L (reference value: 40-280 IU/L). We believe that the patient developed rhabdomyolysis due to severe hypokalemia, possibly induced by a pharmacodynamic interaction between licorice and indapamide.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics
Volume6
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)98-99
Number of pages2
ISSN0976-500X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2015

    Research areas

  • Hypokalemia, indapamide, licorice, rhabdomyolysis, side-effects

ID: 389911363