Bossen L, et al. - Using data from three randomized trials of satavaptan for the treatment of patients with cirrhosis and ascites, researchers investigated the relationship between serum sodium, changes in serum sodium, and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) incidence. Patients were examined for HE during follow-up, and serum sodium was measured on a regular basis. Using fractional polynomials, they estimated the nature of the association between current serum sodium and hazard rate of HE (eg, with a linear, logarithmic, or exponential slope), and used Cox regression to adjust for confounders. A total of 302 of 1,116 patients developed HE; the hazard rate of HE development in serum sodium increased by 8% for every mmol/L decrease. Moreover, current serum sodium influenced the HE rate more so than changes in serum sodium since inclusion.