Potassium Supplementation of Diuretic Therapy: Pro and Con

To the Editor: In the March 21 issue Kaplan et al.¹ report that in 16 hypertensive patients with diuretic-induced hypokalemia, potassium chloride supplements, 60 mmol per day, increased the mean serum potassium concentration by 0.56 mmol per liter. We have reason to doubt the general validity of this observation. Potassium chloride supplementation in diuretic-induced hypokalemia has been extensively studied. In one of these studies,² done in six elderly patients, the administration of 48 mmol of slow-release potassium chloride per day did not significantly raise either plasma or total body potassium (measured as ⁴²K). In a study in 18 patients with.