Correlation of serum magnesium levels with body mass index in post-menopausal women: an observational study

Abstract

Background: Obesity and overweight status based on body mass index among post-menopausal women is common finding. Micro-nutrient deficiencies like magnesium have also been summarised in the post-menopausal syndrome. With this background we planned this study to correlate serum magnesium levels with body mass index in post-menopausal women.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on the post-menopausal women attending the department of medicine in a tertiary care hospital of Maharashtra. We recruited 60 cases that fitted our eligibility criteria taken from the duration of 4 months in our institute. Data was collected using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire which had demographic variables, anthropometric measurements like height, weight, body mass index etc and serum magnesium levels of the patients. Serum magnesium levels were tested in blood using commercial kit for quantative measurement (Xylidyl Blue method) using automated analyser. Body mass index was calculated using the standard formula and classified based on the WHO guidelines.Results: The mean serum magnesium levels among obese/overweight post-menopausal women was 1.43±0.23 and among non-obese/overweight post-menopausal women it was 2.59±0.31(p<0.001). We found a high inverse correlation between serum magnesium levels with body mass index in the present study. (r=-0.83, p<0.001)Conclusions: The serum magnesium levels were significantly lower among the obese/overweight subjects when compared to normal subjects in the present study. There was significant high negative correlation between the serum magnesium levels and body mass index in the present study.