BackgroundHyperkalemia (HK) may be associated with poor clinical outcomes among COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of HK and evaluate the associations between HK and in-hospital mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, length of hospital stay (LOS), and hospitalization cost among COVID-19 inpatients.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted using a large hospital discharge database (PINC AI Healthcare Database) for COVID-19 inpatients discharged between April 1 and August 31, 2020. HK was defined with discharge diagnosis and potassium binder use.ResultsOf 192,182 COVID-19 inpatients, 12% (n=22,702) had HK. HK patients were more likely to be older (median age 67 vs 63 years), male (63% vs 50%), black (30% vs 22%), and have a history of chronic kidney disease (45% vs 16%) or diabetes mellitus (55% vs 35%) than non-HK patients (all p
