The significance of routine serum magnesium determination in the ED

To determine the significance of routine serum magnesium determination in the ED, a retrospective analysis was done on 253 patients in whom serum magnesium levels were examined in the department of EM. Mild, moderate, and severe hypomagnesemia was found in 19.5%, 9.1%, and 2.5% of the study population, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, diabetes mellitus, gender, renal function, infectious diseases, and the presence of ischemic heart disease were associated with low serum magnesium levels. In multivariate analysis, only pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions (odds ratio [OR], 4.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-15.3) and diabetes mellitus (OR, 9.04, 95% CI, 3.3-24.75) were significantly associated with low serum magnesium levels. The number of patients admitted to the hospital and the number of patients who died was not statistically significantly different between the groups of patients with normal serum magnesium levels as compared with those with low serum magnesium levels. Although hypomagnesemia was found in 31% of the study population, its clinical significance is not clear given the absence of hypomagnesemia-related complications and death.