The role of serum magnesium level in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic disorder and leading cause of death and disability in the world. The incidence of diabetes is increasing globally and in India. Magnesium depletion has a negative impact on glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Hypomagnesaemia can lead to development of complications in diabetes. Hence there is need for the study to explore the status of magnesium in type 2 diabetes. Objectives: To estimate and compare the serum magnesium levels in type 2 diabetes patients with age/sex matched non diabetic controls.Methods: A case control study was done in randomly chosen 100 type 2 diabetic patients and 100 non diabetic age/sex matched controls. Estimation of serum magnesium was done by enzymatic end point method.Results: 37% of diabetic patients had low serum magnesium levels (Mg2+ level ≤1.5 mg/dL) and 9 % of controls had low serum magnesium levels. The mean serum magnesium levels were 1.96 ± 0.54 mg/dL and 2.375 ± 0.449 mg/dL in diabetics and controls respectively (P value <0.0001 highly significant). Hypomagnesaemia (Mg2+ level ≤1.5 mg/dL) was correlating with retinopathy (P = 0.041 significant).Conclusion: This study demonstrated that low serum Mg2+ status is common in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients when compared to non-diabetic controls. It may be prudent in clinical practice to periodically monitor plasma Mg2+ concentration in diabetic patients. If plasma Mg2+ is low, an intervention to increase dietary intake of magnesium may be beneficial to prevent the complications.