Prognostic importance of the serum magnesium concentration in patients with congestive heart failure

Magnesium abnormalities are common in patients with congestive heart failure but the clinical and prognostic significance of an abnormal serum magnesium concentration in this disorder has not been investigated. Therefore, the relation between serum magnesium concentration and the clinical characteri...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American College of Cardiology 1990-10, Vol.16 (4), p.827-831
Main Authors: Gottlieb, Stephen S., Baruch, Lawrence, Kukin, Marrick L., Bernstein, Jonine L., Fisher, Michael L., Packer, Milton
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cardiology. Vascular system
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Heart
Heart Failure - blood
Heart Failure - mortality
Heart failure, cardiogenic pulmonary edema, cardiac enlargement
Humans
Magnesium - blood
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Prognosis
Survival Analysis
Survival Rate
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Magnesium abnormalities are common in patients with congestive heart failure but the clinical and prognostic significance of an abnormal serum magnesium concentration in this disorder has not been investigated. Therefore, the relation between serum magnesium concentration and the clinical characteristics and long-term outcome of 199 patients with chronic heart failure was evaluated. The serum magnesium concentration was <1.6 mEq/liter in 38 patients (19%), within the normal range in 134 patients (67%) and >2.1 mEq/liter in 27 patients (14%). Patients with hypomagnesemia had more frequent ventricular premature complexes and episodes of ventricular tachycardia than did patients with a normal serum magnesium concentration (p < 0.05). Even though the two groups were similar with respect to severity of heart failure and neurohormonal variables, patients with a low serum magnesium concentration had a significantly worse prognosis during long-term follow-up (45% versus 71% 1 year survival, p < 0.05). Patients with hypermagnesemia had more severe symptoms, greater neurohormonal activation and worse renal function than did patients with a normal serum magnesium concentration but tended to have fewer ventricular arrhythmias. Hypermagnesemic patients had a worse prognosis than did those with a normal magnesium concentration (37% versus 71% 1 year survival, p < 0.05). In conclusion, the measurement of serum magnesium concentration provides important clinical and prognostic information in patients with chronic heart failure.
ISSN:0735-1097
1558-3597
DOI:10.1016/S0735-1097(10)80329-8