ALB and Hypokalemia: On admission, abnormalities more common in cases vs controls included severe hypokalemia (potassium <2.5 mEq/L) (18 of 81 [22%] vs 0%), hypoalbuminemia (albumin level <3.4 g/dL) (66 of 88 [75%] vs 4 of 22 [18%]), and hypothyroidism (free thyroxine level <0.70 ng/dL or thyrotropin level >4.2 mU/L) (18 of 74 [24%] vs 1 of 21 [5%]) and were associated with typical electrocardiographic changes (T-wave inversion: odds ratio, 7.3; 95% CI, 1.9-28.0; P = .001), which corrected as potassium levels improved.