SERUM MAGNESIUM LEVELS DERANGEMENTS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD).

Abstract

Background; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) leads to significant morbidity and poor quality of life among patients. This study was conducted to evaluate serum magnesium levels among patients with COPD as there is no such study done in Pakistan on this topic. Material and Methods; A total of 137 patients presenting with COPD were registered from Department of medicine, Nishtar Hospital, Multan in this cross-sectional study from June 2016 to June 2017. Once registered in the study, all the relevant baseline investigations were done. Venous blood sample was taken (3 ml) and sent to central laboratory of Nishtar Hospital Multan, for serum Mg levels. Statistical analysis was performed by entering all the data in SPSS version 20. Results; Of these 137 study cases, 84 (61.3%) were male patients while 53 (38.7%) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases was 56.79 ± 4.81 years. Of these 137 study cases, 41 (29.9%) were from rural areas while 96 (70.1%) were from urban areas and 109 (79.6%) were poor. Diabetes was present in 28 (20.4%) and hypertension in 56 (40.9%) our patients. Mean height of our patients was 152.24 ± 10.87 centimeters while mean weight of our study cases was 66.41 ± 7.23 kilograms and mean body mass index was 24.87 ± 4.13 kg/m². Our study results reported 66 (48.2 %) were normal weight, 41 (29.9 %) were overweight and 30 (21.9 %) were obese. Smoking was noted in 53 (38.7 %) of our study cases. Mean duration of illness was 30.81 ± 14.74 months and 112 (81.8%) had disease duration more than 18 months. Mean serum magnesium level of our patients was 1.52 ± 0.54 meq/liter (Range; 1.15 meq/liter to 2.75 meq/liter) and hypomagnesemia was present in 50 (36.5 %) patients. Conclusion; Frequency of hypomagnsemia among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was very high in our study. Hypomagnesemia was significantly associated with male gender, increasing age, poor socioeconomic status, diabetes, hypertension, smoking and prolonged disease duration. Clinicians treating such patients should monitor their serum magnesium levels on regular basis to improve their prognosis and to decrease disease morbidity.

Keywords; Chronic Obstructive pulmonary disease, hypomagnesemia, frequency.