Serum calcium and magnesium levels in women with detrusor overactivity

The aim of this study was to determine whether abnormal serum levels of magnesium and calcium occur in women with detrusor overactivity. These were compared with the serum level of magnesium and calcium ions in women with urodynamic stress incontinence as controls to see whether alteration of these levels offer a further therapeutic option. The study included 20 women with urodynamically proven detrusor overactivity compared with 20 women with urodynamic stress incontinence as controls. A blood test was taken to determine serum levels of total magnesium phosphate together with free and corrected calcium. In addition, the calcium and magnesium ratio (Ca:Mg) and calcium corrected and magnesium ratio (Ca Corr:Mg) were calculated. Both parametric and non-parametric tests were used to compare the two groups with respect to these variables. The mean, median and standard deviation of the two groups are very similar for each of the variables. There is no evidence to suggest that there is any difference between detrusor overactivity and urodynamic stress incontinence with respect to these variables. This study has shown that there is no abnormal correlation between serum calcium and magnesium ions in women with detrusor overactivity. There appears to be no therapeutic benefit in calcium and/or magnesium supplements for detrusor overactivity.