Frequency of Hypomagnesemia in Patients with Diabetic Retinopathy

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of hypomagnesemia in patients with diabetic retinopathy
at a tertiary care hospital.
Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out.135 cases fulfilling the inclusion/exclusion
criteria were enrolled from Medical and Ophthalmology OPD Services Institute of Medical
Science, Lahore. An informed consent of the patients was taken from the patients to include their
data in the study. Detailed history for Diabetic Retinopathy and physical examination was done by
ophthalmoscope. Blood samples were collected for measurement of fasting serum magnesium.
The frequency of hypomagnesemia (according to operational definition) in patients with diabetic
retinopathy was noted, all this information was recorded. Hypomagnesemia was defined as
serum magnesium levels less than 1.5 mg/dl.
Results: In our study, out of 135 diabetic retinopathy cases, 32.59%(n=44) were between 30-50
years of age while 67.41%(n=91) were between 51-80 years of age, mean+sd was calculated as
56.37+12.24 years, 53.33%(n=72) were male and 46.67%(n=63) were females, frequency of
hypomagnesemia in patients with diabetic retinopathy was recorded as 30.37%(n=41) while
69.63%(n=94) were not recorded with this morbidity.
Conclusions: The frequency of hypomagnesemia is high among patients with diabetic
retinopathy. So, it is recommended that every patient who presents with diabetic retinopathy,
should be tested for hypomagnesemia. However, it is also required that every setup should have
their surveillance in order to know the frequency of the problem