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Fifty-nine nursing home patients (average age, 79.9 +/- .9 years) receiving chlorpropamide were screened with a serum sodium determination. Nine patients (15.3 percent) had a serum sodium concentration less than 135 mEq/L; six of these patients (10.2 percent) had a serum sodium equal to or less than 130 mEq/L; none of the patients had a serum sodium less than 125 mEq/L. Five hyponatremic patients (Na less than or equal to 130 mEq/L) and nine normonatremic patients (Na greater than or equal to 135 mEq/L) were screened with a standardized mental status examination and additional laboratory studies. The hyponatremic patients were switched to tolazamide after a one-week wash-out period, and the mental status examination and laboratory studies were repeated in both groups four weeks later. One patient in the hyponatremic group died during the course of the study; the other four became normonatremic on tolazamide. Mental status scores increased significantly in the hyponatremic group, 16.0 +/- 3.6 to 20 +/- 4.6 (a 37.3 +/- 21.5 percent increase), compared with the normonatremic group, 14.5 +/- 2.6 to 15.8 +/- 2.9 (a 7.8 +/- 3.2 percent increase). There were no significant differences in serum glucose, creatinine, chlorpropamide, or antidiuretic hormone concentrations between the two groups. It is recommended that periodic serum sodium determinations be obtained in geriatric patients receiving chlorpropamide.