A High Prevalence of Hypomagnesemia and Hypermagnesemia in Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

The prevalence of hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia among hospitalized patients was studied by determining magnesium levels in 621 serum samples randomly selected from those submitted to the clinical chemistry laboratory for a biochemical test panel. The reference range for serum magnesium was established in this study as 1.2 to 1.9 mEq/L from measurements of serum magnesium on 341 healthy volunteers. Hypomagnesemia (1.9 mEq/L) occurred in 58 patients or 9.3%. The degree of association between hypomagnesemia and hypocalcemia was assessed by measuring serum magnesium on a separate group of 61 patients with hypocalcemia (corrected calcium P < 0.025).