Abstract
Introduction: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a growing health problem nationally and worldwide. Magnesium is an important mineral that is essential for a wide range of metabolic reactions. Here, our primary goal was to deter-mine the prevalence of hypomagnesemia and its relationship to glycemic control, cardiovascular markers, and T2D-related complications. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed from Sep-tember 2015 to March 2017 including adult patients with T2D who attended the Endocrine and Diabetes Center, Taif, Saudi Arabia. Those with known hypomagnesemia, patients with type 1 diabetes, gestational diabetes, pa-tients with end-stage renal disease, and those on magnesium supplementa-tions were excluded. Those with a serum magnesium level < 0.7 mmol/l were considered to have hypomagnesemia. Otherwise, patients were considered to have a normal serum Mg level. Results: A total of 285 patients with a mean age of 59.4 +/- 12.7 years were enrolled. The majority of patients were female, with long-standing T2D, with a mean body mass index in the obesity category, and most of them had co-morbid conditions. Twenty-eight percent of the screened T2D patients had hypomagnesemia and this group were more likely to have a bachelor degree (p = 0.034), to be on metformin, statin, and glargine insulin (all p < 0.05), have worse glycemic control (p < 0.05), and a higher pulse rate (p = 0.039), but were less likely to be on diet control (p = 0.034) when com pared to those with a normal Mg level. Conclusions: Almost one-third of the screened T2D patients have hypomag-nesemia. Hypomagnesemia was associated with the treatment modalities, worse glycemic control, and with peripheral artery disease.