Background Little is known about the relations of magnesium intake with risk of heart failure (HF) hospitalizations, particularly in African-Americans. We hypothesize that magnesium intake relates to HF hospitalization in African-Americans. Methods and Results From the Jackson Heart Study cohort (n=5,301), we studied 4,916 African-Americans recruited during 2000–2004 in Jackson (MS), who completed an 158-item Food-Frequency Questionnaire which included dietary supplements. Total daily magnesium intake derived from the questionnaire was divided by the body weight (Kg) to account for body storage, and stratified by quartiles (0.522–2.308, 2.309–3.147, 3.148–4.226 and ≥4.227mg magnesium intake/Kg). Cox proportional hazards modeling assessed the association between quartiles of magnesium intake/Kg and hospitalizations for HF adjusting for HF risk, energy intake and dietary factors affecting magnesium uptake. The cohort had a mean age=55.3 (SD=12.7yrs), and composed of 63.4% women, 21.6% diabetes, 62.7% hypertension, 7.1% coronary disease and 2.8% with known HF. When compared to participants in the first quartile of magnesium intake/Kg, those with higher magnesium intake (>2.308 mg/kg) had decreased risk of HF admission, with adjusted hazard ratios of 0.66(95%CI: 0.47–0.94) in the second quartile to 0.47 (95% CI: 0.27–0.82) in the highest quartile. Results were similar when individuals with previous diagnosed HF (2.8%) were excluded or when the analysis was repeated using quartiles of magnesium intake without accounting for body weight. Conclusions Magnesium intake below 2.3mg/Kg (~181 mg/day) was related to increased risk for subsequent HF hospitalizations. Future studies are needed to test whether serum Magnesium levels and/or intake predict risk of heart failure.

Most patients in the settings described met guidelines for BMD testing. Pharmacist recommendations to consider BMD testing did not increase the rate of testing. Including a physician on an interdisciplinary team appeared to help determine appropriateness and improve the rate of testing, though the increase in testing was not statistically significant.