Pediatric reference values for serum magnesium levels in Iranian subjects

Abstract

Magnesium (Mg), an essential element, plays important roles in many physiological functions. Mg deficiency is associated with insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, and disorders of the nervous system. The aim of this study was to determine reference values for serum Mg concentration in pediatrics. Serum Mg level was measured by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry in 306 subjects (141 boys and 165 girls), aged 3–19 years, selected from among participants of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry guidelines (IFCC) and the robust method were used for determining reference values for sample sizes greater or less than 120 subjects respectively. The 95% reference values for serum Mg concentrations were 0.76–1.0, 0.75–1.0, and 0.76–0.99 mmol/L in boys, girls, and the all subjects respectively. According to the reference values obtained in this study, the prevalences of hypo- and hypermagnesemia, were 5.9% and 5.6% respectively. In conclusion, the current study presents pediatric reference values for serum Mg levels derived from a randomly selected healthy population, values which could be instrumental in detecting serum Mg abnormalities.

Key Words::

• Adolescents
• children
• reference intervals

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 Professor Paul S. Horn who provided the software for determining reference values with the robust method. We thank Ms N. Shiva for critical editing for English grammar and syntax of the manuscript.

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