Magnesium’s role in a healthy person’s body, in the course and rehabilitation after infectious respiratory pathology and COVID-19 (literature information, own data)

Abstract

Magnesium is a macroelement that plays an important role in the regulation of many physiological processes. In the case of insufficient intake of magnesium, which does not meet the needs of the child's body, its deficiency develops. Clinical manifestations of magnesium deficiency are nonspecific and may be similar to symptoms of various diseases, including asthenic syndrome. In turn, asthenic syndrome is common in children who have suffered infectious diseases, COVID-19, influenza, and other acute respiratory infectious pathology. In such children, excessive anxiety, rapid fatigue, sudden mood changes, sleep disorders, and emotional lability can be detected. Given that the leading role in ensuring the proper functioning of most of the body's enzyme systems, tissue respiration, energy exchange, and synthetic processes belongs to magnesium, it is assumed that the development of the described symptoms may be related to its deficiency. Purpose - to summarize literature data on the role of magnesium in the body of a healthy person, the peculiarities of its metabolism, its importance in the course and rehabilitation after respiratory infectious pathology and COVID-19, signs of deficiency, and methods of its correction; evaluate the results of own research. Materials and methods. General clinical (analysis of anamnesis data), laboratory (determination of magnesium level in blood serum), statistical, bibliographic, and information-analytic research methods were used. 60 children aged 9 to 18 took part in the study, among them 35 children who had COVID-19 (the first group) and 25 children who did not have COVID-19 (the second group). Results. It was established that the average value of magnesium level in blood serum in children of the first group was lower than in children of the second group (p=0.005). Individual analysis showed that 31.4% of patients in the first group, who had a term of 4-5 months after COVID-19, noted the presence of post-COVID-19 symptoms, such as excessive fatigue, headache, muscle weakness, impaired sleep, appetite, which coincides with the data of the literature. Conclusions. The data of our study may indicate the effect of transferred COVID-19 on the level of magnesium in the blood serum, which may be one of the reasons for its deficiency and, accordingly, the development of post-COVID-19 symptoms in children. It is advisable to carry out laboratory determination of the magnesium level in children who had acute respiratory infectious pathology, including COVID-19, to establish the causes of the development of individual symptoms that aggravate the general well-being, prevent the development of magnesium deficiency and find additional ways of rehabilitation after respiratory infectious pathology and COVID-19. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.