the relationship between plasma magnesium concentration and hepatic encephalopathy in liver cirrhosis patients: a preliminary result of a referral center in iran

Background: the present study aimed to assess the relationship between hepatic encephalopathy (he) and serum magnesium concentration in patients with liver cirrhosis. methods: the study population consisted of 90 cirrhotic patients admitted to the internal ward of shariati hospital, isfahan, iran. the patients were divided into two groups: with or without he. demographic data, cirrhosis aetiology, plasma concentration of magnesium, model end-stage liver disease (meld) score, and child-pugh-turcotte (ctp) class were recorded. results: thirty-one patients (34.4%) had hypomagnesaemia. age and sex had no significant effects on plasma magnesium concentration (p-value = 0.134 and 0.212, respectively). the distribution of cirrhosis aetiologies was significantly different between patients with and without hypomagnesaemia (p-value = 0.005). most patients with hypomagnesaemia were in groups b and c of ctp class (p = 0.027) and had a mean meld score of 16.5 ± 5.8 versus 14.3 ± 5.4 in patients without hypomagnesaemia (p-value = 0.08). hepatic encephalopathy was diagnosed in 45 (50.0%) patients. mean serum levels of magnesium in patients with or without he were 1.6 ± 0.2 and 1.9 ± 0.2 meq/l, respectively (p-value < 0.001). there was no significant association between encephalopathy grade and serum magnesium concentration (p-value = 0.377). conclusions: we demonstrated a relatively high prevalence of hypomagnesaemia among cirrhotic patients with he. hypomagnesaemia was associated with the severity of liver cirrhosis based on the child-pugh score. prescription of magnesium supplements in cirrhotic patients may be helpful in preventing disease progression; however, further studies are needed.