Study of Serum Magnesium Level in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Background: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is the most prevalent metabolic disease associated with magnesium deficiency. Renal magnesium wasting can be made worse by insulin resistance and hyperglycemia increases the osmotic urinary excretion of magnesium. High incidence of hypomagnesaemia in Type 2 DM has been reported in different studies. Aims and Objectives: To assess status of serum magnesium level in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College, Sylhet between January 2021 and December 2021. Fifty-five type-2 diabetics and age and sex matched 55 healthy volunteers were included by applying non probability convenient sampling technique. Diabetics with acute complications, diarrhoea or other malabsorptive states, those taking alcohol or drugs such as amino glycosides, thiazide diuretics and pregnant women were excluded. All underwent fasting plasma glucose, serum magnesium and HbA1c levels. Results: The mean serum magnesium level was 1.67 ± 0.41 mg/dl and 2.02 ± 0.40 mg/dl in diabetics and non-diabetics respectively; difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). Hypomagnesaemia was more frequent in diabetic group [22 (40.0%) versus 2 (3.6%), p<0.001] compared to non-diabetics. Conclusion: Serum magnesium level is lower and hypomagnesaemia is more frequent in diabetics compared to the healthy subjects.