A High Prevalence of Hypomagnesemia and Hypermagnesemia in Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

The prevalence of hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia among hospitalized patients was studied by determining magnesium levels in 621 serum samples randomly selected from those submitted to the clinical chemistry laboratory for a biochemical test panel. The reference range for serum magnesium was established in this study as 1.2 to 1.9 mEq/L from measurements of serum magnesium on 341 healthy volunteers. Hypomagnesemia (less than 1.2 mEq/L) was present in 68 patients or 11.0%, and hypermagnesemia (greater than 1.9 mEq/L) occurred in 58 patients or 9.3%. The degree of association between hypomagnesemia and hypocalcemia was assessed by measuring serum magnesium on a separate group of 61 patients with hypocalcemia (corrected calcium less than 8.6 mg/dL). Hypomagnesemia was present in 23.3% of patients hypocalcemic in the absence of renal failure; this proportion was higher significantly than the 11.0% who were hypomagnesemic in the hospitalized patient group (P less than 0.025).

Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with serum C-reactive protein levels: meta-analysis and systematic review

“…For example, we had to exclude two studies(11, 23) from the meta-analysis because they reported mean CRP (SD), and/or OR (95%CI) based on a continuous scale of Mg intake. Second, none of the primary studies considered the health impact of high Mg intake (hypermagnesaemia, e.g., serum Mg>1.9 mEq/L(28)). Anyway, no sufficient evidence to date indicates any substantial adverse effect of dietary magnesium overdose, though two case studies reported that Mg intake above 6 mEq/L, a rare phenomenon in a general population, caused parathyroid gland dysfunction, respiratory, cardiac and CNS dysfunction(29, 30).…”

Calcium - Magnesium imbalance implicated in benign prostatic hyperplasia and restoration by a phytotherapeutic drug – Croton membranaceus Müll.Arg

“…A prevalence of 11% was reported when 621 hospital patients (in the USA) were randomly selected compared to 2.5% in the control group made up of 341 hospital staff [31]. Other disease conditions such as malabsorption, diarrhea, hypertension, cognitive heart failure, coronary artery disease among others have all been reported to be associated with hypomagnesaemia [32, 33].…”

Genetic causes of hypomagnesemia, a clinical overview

“…Symptomatic hypermagnesemia is rare and mostly induced by excessive use of drugs which contain high amounts of Mg 2+ , including laxatives and Epsom salts [1]. Hypomagnesemia on the other hand is more frequent [8–10] and can have several distinct causes. First among these is a prolonged general loss of electrolytes, such as during periods of vomiting, diarrhea or malabsorption [11].…”