PhD defense by Maria Lukács Krogager

The PhD defense will take place

22 January, 2021 at 1:00 PM
The defence will be held via Zoom due to Covid-19
Registration to inst.klinisk.phd@dcm.aau.dk

Supervisors

PhD supervisor: Professor Christian Torp-Pedersen, MD, DMSc
Department of Clinical Research Nordsjællands Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark.

Co-PhD supervisor: Professor Peter Søgaard, MD, DMSc
Department of Cardiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark.

Assistant PhD supervisor: Kristian Kragholm, MD, PhD
Department of Cardiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark.

Assessment Committee

Professor Torben Bjerregaard Larsen, MD, PhD
Department of Cardiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark.

Kristina Procida, MD, PhD
Department of Cardiology, Zealand Universityhospital, Roskilde, Denmark.

Professor Patrick Rossignol, MD, PhD
Nancy University Hospital Inserm Clinical Investigation Center, Nancy, France.

About the PhD thesis

This thesis examines optimal potassium concentrations and impact of potassium normali-zation after the first episode with hypo- or hyperkalemia on short-term mortality in patients with hypertension treated with at least two classes of antihypertensive drugs. We also in-vestigated short-term hypokalemia risk in relation to different combinations of antihyper-tensive therapies.

Below the key findings of the thesis are highlighted:

• Patients treated with combination antihypertensive therapy with potassium con-centrations outside the interval 4.1-4.7 mmol/L had increased short-term mortality risk compared to the reference (K: 4.1-4.4 mmol/L).

• Patients with hypertension with initial potassium levels ≤ 3.7 mmol/L, had in-creased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk if hypokalemia per-sisted. Increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk was also observed when low potassium concentrations were overcorrected to levels above 4.6 mmol/L.

• Patients with hypertension and initial potassium concentrations ≥4.7 mmol/L who had a subsequent potassium measurement outside the interval 4.1-5.5 mmol/L had increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk.

• Combination of any antihypertensive drugs with thiazide diuretics was associated with high odds of hypokalemia within 90-days from treatment initiation (also in cases with potassium supplementation).