Dyskalemia is common at ICU admission and associated with increased mortality. Occurrence of cardiac events increased with dyskalemia depth.

A correction of serum potassium level by day 2 was associated with improved prognosis.

Of 12,090 patients at 22 French OUTCOMEREA network ICUs, 2,108 (17.4%) had hypokalemia and 1445 (12%) had hyperkalemia.

Prognostic impact of dyskalemia and its correction was assessed using multivariate Cox models.

After adjustment, hypokalemia and hyperkalemia were independently associated with a greater risk of 28-day mortality.

Patients were classified into six groups according to their serum potassium level at admission.

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