magnesium level changes and its possible effects on the outcome of patients admitted to intensive care unit

Background]hypomagnesemia is a usual finding in patients admitted to intensive care unit (icu) that is usually the result of magnesium (mg) loss from renal or gastrointestinal (gi) tracts.[objectives]the current study aimed at evaluating the relationship between the level of mg in serum and outcome of patients admitted to icu.[methods]the current cross sectional, descriptive study was performed on patients admitted to icu for 1 year. all of the patients stayed at least 2 days in icu. data on the underlying disease were collected based on a check list. all patients were followedup until the discharge time. parametric and nonparametric tests were used for the statistical analyses using spss software ver. 18.0.[results]one hundred one patients (52 males and 49 females) were enrolled in the current study. most of the underlying diseases in patients were pulmonary (31.7%) and renal (24.8%) diseases. hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia were observed in 31.7% and 17.8% of the patients, respectively. hypomagnesemia was mostly observed in patients with gastrointestinal (50%) and renal diseases (36%). among the 101 patients, 71 (70.3%) cases died and 30 (29.7%) cases were discharged from the hospital. hypomagnesaemia was observed in 28.1% of dead patients and 40% of the discharged ones. there was no significant correlation between the serum level of mg and patients outcome.[conclusions]further studies should be conducted on the total serum mg and ionized level of mg in serum, and their correlation with the outcome of patients admitted to icu.