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Is low magnesium concentration a risk factor for coronary heart disease? The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities
F Liao1, A R Folsom, F L Brancati
1Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55454-1015, USA.
Insights
Low serum magnesium levels were associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women, suggesting a potential role for magnesium in cardiovascular health.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular epidemiology
- Nutritional science
- Public health
Background:
- Hypomagnesemia is a potential risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD).
- Limited prospective studies exist on the association between magnesium and CHD incidence.
- Magnesium's role in cardiovascular pathogenesis requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between serum and dietary magnesium levels and the incidence of CHD.
- To investigate potential sex differences in the association between magnesium and CHD.
- To assess magnesium's contribution to coronary atherosclerosis and thrombosis.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study involving 13,922 middle-aged adults from 4 US communities.
- Follow-up period of 4 to 7 years, monitoring CHD development.
- Statistical adjustments for numerous sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical factors.
Main Results:
- Among women, increasing quartiles of serum magnesium showed a significant inverse association with CHD risk (P for trend=0.009).
- Among men, serum magnesium showed a non-significant inverse trend with CHD risk (P for trend=0.07).
- Dietary magnesium showed no significant association with CHD risk in either sex.
Conclusions:
- Low serum magnesium concentration may be implicated in the development of coronary atherosclerosis.
- Magnesium deficiency could play a role in acute thrombotic events contributing to CHD.
- Further research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms linking magnesium to cardiovascular disease.
Background:
Hypomagnesemia has been hypothesized to play a role in coronary heart disease (CHD), but few prospective epidemiologic studies have been conducted.
Methods And Results:
We examined the relation of serum and dietary magnesium with CHD incidence in a sample of middle-aged adults (n=13,922 free of baseline CHD) from 4 US communities. Over 4 to 7 years of follow-up, 223 men and 96 women had CHD develop. After adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, waist/hip ratio, smoking, alcohol consumption, sports participation, use of diuretics, fibrinogen, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and hormone replacement therapy, the relative risk of CHD across quartiles of serum magnesium was 1.00, 0.92, 0.48, and 0.44 (P for trend=0.009) among women and 1.00, 1.32, 0.95, and 0.73 (P for trend=0.07) among men. The adjusted relative risk of CHD for the highest versus the lowest quartile of dietary magnesium was 0.69 in men (95% confidence interval 0.45 to 1.05) and 1.32 in women (0.68 to 2.55).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that low magnesium concentration may contribute to the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis or acute thrombosis.