Hypomagnesemia and prehypertension in otherwise healthy individuals

Given the potential implications in the policies focused on the prevention of hypertension, we evaluate the relationship between low serum magnesium levels and prehypertension in otherwise healthy subjects.

A cross-sectional study that enrolled 175 healthy men and non-pregnant women, 20 to 65 years of age was carried out. Type 2 diabetes, impaired fasting glucose, hypertension, chronic diarrhea, cancer, impaired renal function, as well as the intake of magnesium supplements in the previous six months, were the exclusion criteria. Hypomagnesemia was defined by serum magnesium concentration of <0.7 mmol/L and prehypertension by Systolic (S) and Diastolic (D) blood pressure (BP) of 120 to 139 and 80 to 89 mmHg. A multivariate logistic conditional forward analysis, adjusted by sex, age, alcohol consumption waist circumference, body mass index, fasting glucose and triglyceride levels was conducted to evaluate the association between hypomagnesemia and prehypertension.

Prehypertension was identified in 68 (13.2%) subjects who were compared with 107 (20.8%) control individuals without prehypertension. Individuals with prehypertension showed lower magnesium (0.73±0.20 vs. 0.77±0.21, p<0.001) and higher triglyceride levels (2.8±3.5 vs. 1.8±1.2, p=0.04) as compared with non-prehypertensive individuals. There were no other significant differences between the groups. The adjusted multivariate logistic conditional forward analysis showed a significant association between hypomagnesemia and prehypertension (OR 1.98; 95% CI 1.11-4.20, p=0.04).

Our finding suggests that low serum magnesium levels could play an important role in the pathophysiology of prehypertension in otherwise healthy subjects.