Association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and serum magnesium level in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Objective To investigate the association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and serum magnesium level in patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM). Methods Clinical data of 1 273 consecutive patients with T2DM admitted in hospital from June 2013 to June 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the quartile of serum magnesium levels, patients were divided into 4 groups: Q1 group (≤ 0.79 mmol/L, n=376), Q2 group (0.80-0.84 mmol/L, n=296), Q3 group (0.85-0.89 mmol/L, n=287) , and Q4 group (≥0.90 mmol/L, n=314). Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between NAFLD and serum magnesium level. Results The average age of the study population was (56.4±13.8) years, males accounted for 52.7%(671/1 273), NAFLD patients accounted for 58.4%(743/1 273). The prevalence of NAFLD in Q4, Q3, Q2 and Q1 groups was 53.8%(169/314), 52.6%(151/287), 57.4%(170/296) and 67.3%(253/376), respectively (χ2=19.00, P=0.000). Logistic regression showed that compared with the Q4 group, OR(95%CI) for NAFLD in the Q1 group was 1.49 (1.03-2.16), Ptrend=0.011 after adjusting for age, sex, duration of diabetes, BMI, systolic blood pressure, alcohol consumption, TG, glycosylated hemoglobin and serum uric acid. After further adjusting for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), OR(95%CI) for NAFLD was 1.33 (0.92-1.94) and Ptrend=0.065 in the Q1 group compared with the Q4 group. Conclusion Reduction in serum magnesium is associated with an increased risk of NAFLD in T2DM patients, and eGFR may be a confounding factor. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Fatty liver; Magnesium, serum; Cross-sectional studies