POTASSIUM
Definition
Potassium is a mineral found in varying amount in most foods such as bananas, cashew nuts, spinach and lima beans.1 Within the body, potassium is an electrolyte that is critical for the normal functioning of the muscles and major organs, such as the heart. The level of potassium within the body may vary throughout the day and is dependent on a person’s dietary intake.2 Some population studies have found that persons eating a highly processed diet may become deficient in dietary potassium.3
The potassium test measures the total amount of potassium in the urine that has been excreted from the body at the time of the test. Research has shown that low levels of potassium can contribute to developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease.1,2
Population
Potassium results were obtained for persons aged 18 years and over, who agreed to participate in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey (NATSIHMS) and who provided a urine sample. Fasting was not required for this test.
Methodology
A spot urine sample was collected from participants and urinary potassium levels were measured at the Douglass Hanly Moir (DHM) laboratory.
There is no consensus of epidemiological cut off reference values for measuring potassium excretion from spot or estimated 24 hour urine collections, as such no cut off points have been defined in the NATSIHMS.
Further information about the analysis method and machines used to measure potassium levels are available in Excel spreadsheet format in the Downloads page of this product.
Data items
The data items and related output categories for this topic are available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.
Interpretation
Points to be considered when interpreting data for this topic include the following:
- The urinary excretion of potassium varies significantly with dietary intake and there is no method to determine expected values based on a spot urine collection. It should be noted that other studies and research may have collected and measured 24 hour urine potassium excretion.
- There are a number of different test methods to measure potassium levels and each test method may produce different results.
Comparability with other surveys
The NATSIHMS is the first ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survey to collect biomedical information. Given it was also the first national level survey (ABS or otherwise) to collect such data for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, no comparisons with previous surveys for this population are possible.
However, biomedical data was also collected for all Australians in the 2011-12 National Health Measures Survey (NHMS) and information about comparisons between the NHMS results and those of non-ABS surveys is available from the
Comparisons with other Australian surveys section of the
Biomedical Results for Chronic Diseases, 2011-12 publication.
ENDNOTES
1 WHO, 2012, Guideline: Potassium intake for adults and children, Geneva, World Health Organisation. <
http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/guidelines/potassium_intake_printversion.pdf>, Last accessed 08/09/2014.
2 Gibson RS, 2005, Principles of Nutritional Assessment, 2nd ed, New York: Oxford University Press.
3 Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization, 2010, 'Protocol for population level sodium determination in 24‐hour urine samples' ,WHO/PAHO Regional Expert Group for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention through Population-wide Dietary Salt Reduction, <
http://new.paho.org/hq/dmdocuments/2010/pahosaltprotocol.pdf>, Last accessed 08/09/2014.
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