Hypomagnesemia and clinical implications in children and neonates

The prevalence of hypomagnesemia was studied in neonates and children. The specimens were selected randomly from those submitted to the clinical chemical laboratory for blood test. A serum magnesium concentration less than 0.74 mmol/L was considered hypomagnesemic. A total serum magnesium determinations of 910 patients showed that 188 (21.7% prevalence rate) patients contained low serum magnesium levels. Frequently encountered hypomagnesemia was found among neonates with clinical conditions as diarrhea 41 (21.8%), premature births 24 (12.8%), neonatal hepatitis 20 (10.6%) and respiratory distress syndrome 5 (2.7%). In children the clinical conditions most frequently encountered with low serum magnesium were seizure 30 (16%), renal disease 26 (13.8%), metabolic acidosis 18 (9.6%), ideopathic apnea 14 (7.4%) and tachycardia 10 (5.3%). The statistical analysis of low serum magnesium values of patients in various clinical groups showed a significant difference (p < 0.0001) upon using homogeneity of variances but this was insignificant with the application of Kruskal-Wallis 1-Way ANOVA since Chi-square = 12.5748.