Prevalence of hypo- and hypermagnesemia in an Iranian urban population

Abstract

Background: Magnesium (Mg) plays an important role in metabolic processes and its deficiency or excess could adversely affect metabolism. Although magnesium deficiency and excess is associated with a variety of medical conditions, the prevalence of hypo- and hypermagnesemia have not been reported in an Iranian urban population.

Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 1558 subjects (754 males and 804 females), randomly selected from among participants of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). Serum Mg level was measured by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Hypo- and hypermagnesemia were defined by serum Mg < 0.75 mmol/L and Mg>1.04 mmol/L, respectively, and sub-optimal serum Mg concentrations were defined by serum Mg < 0.8 mmol/L.

Results: The prevalence of hypomagnesemia was 4.6% in the total population, being more prevalent in females (6.0%) compared to males (3.2%) (p < 0.05). The overall prevalence of hypermagnesemia was 3.0% and it was more prevalent in males (3.2%) than females (2.7%) (p < 0.05). Sub-optimal Mg levels were found in 14.6% of the total population.

Conclusions: The data show a relatively high prevalence of abnormal levels of serum Mg, among a general population; levels which may contribute to the pathophysiology of several diseases.

Keywords::

• Prevalence
• hypomagnesemia
• hypermagnesemia

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant (No. 221) from the Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The authors wish to thank Ms N Shiva, for linguistic help with the study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.