A comparative study of serum magnesium in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and non-diabetics and its correlation with glycemic status

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a heterogeneous group of metabolic disorders characterized by chronic hyperglycemia. Diabetes mellitus is the major healthcare problem worldwide. The metabolism of several minerals has been reported to alter in diabetes mellitus and these elements might have specific roles in the pathogenesis and progress of this disease. Of these minerals magnesium is the important one. Magnesium is a cofactor in phosphorylation of glucose, and it helps in carbohydrate metabolism. Hypomagnesaemia is a common feature in patients with type 2 DM and has been proposed as a risk factor for type 2 DM. Studies on this parameter have been done in many other countries but very few in India. Hence a study was conducted to estimate and compare the levels of serum magnesium in newly diagnosed uncomplicated type 2 DM patients and healthy controls. A case control study was conducted on 79 patients with clinically diagnosed type 2 DM and age and sex matched 79 apparently healthy subjects as controls from the general population. Blood samples were analyzed to estimate fasting blood sugar (FBS), postprandial blood sugar (PPBS), serum magnesium and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in both cases and controls. The data was analyzed and expressed in terms of mean ± SD. Pearson correlation was performed to establish  the  relationship  between the study  variables. There was a statistically significant decreased level of serum magnesium (p < 0.0001) in cases. There was a highly significant negative correlation between serum magnesium and HbA 1 c.