What is the normal range for serum potassium levels?

The normal range for serum potassium levels is indeed 3.5 to 5.0 mEq/L. This range is important because potassium is a crucial electrolyte that plays a vital role in various physiological functions, including muscle contraction, nerve transmission, and maintaining the body's acid-base balance.

Staying within this range is necessary to prevent both hypokalemia (low potassium levels), which can lead to muscle weakness, arrhythmias, and other complications, and hyperkalemia (high potassium levels), which can also cause severe cardiac issues. Regular monitoring of potassium levels is particularly important in patients with conditions that can affect potassium, such as renal disease, metabolic disorders, or those on medications that influence potassium levels.

While the other provided ranges may include some values that can occur in specific clinical scenarios, they do not reflect the established reference range for healthy adults. Thus, the 3.5 to 5.0 mEq/L range is used as the standard for assessing serum potassium levels.