Plasma aldosterone is low in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and not associated with changes in serum potassium levels: post hoc observational analyses of clinical trial data
Simon Krenn, Sebastian Hödlmoser, Amelie Kurnikowski, Patrick Jorge, Farsad Eskandary, Georg Heinze, Manfred Hecking, Roman Reindl-Schwaighofer · 2025
Read Plasma aldosterone is low in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and not associated with changes in serum potassium levels: post hoc observational analyses of clinical trial data by Simon Krenn, Sebastian Hödlmoser, Amelie Kurnikowski, Patrick Jorge, Farsad Eskandary, Georg Heinze, Manfred Hecking, Roman Reindl-Schwaighofer (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12727438.txt.
Description
Simon Krenn and co-authors analyze hormone and potassium data from a COVID-19 trial in this 2025 paper. Low blood potassium is common in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and links to worse outcomes. High aldosterone, a hormone that drives potassium loss, was blamed in early reports. The team tested that claim with repeated measures.
Data came from 159 patients in a Vienna platform trial during the first infection wave. Morning aldosterone and potassium were tracked for three weeks. Statistical models adjusted for major confounders and for drugs that affect potassium. Aldosterone levels were low in these patients, not high. Levels also showed no link to potassium changes over time. The findings shift the search for the cause of potassium loss elsewhere.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Simon Krenn, Sebastian Hödlmoser, Amelie Kurnikowski, Patrick Jorge, Farsad Eskandary, Georg Heinze, Manfred Hecking, Roman Reindl-Schwaighofer |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 40 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |