Low Serum Magnesium Level is Associated with Severity of Acute Stroke

Abstract

Background: Incidence of stroke is increasingly prevalent around the world. It is necessary to assess the severity of acute stroke early for better patient management and also to predict treatment option and disease outcome. Serum magnesium (Mg) remarkably associated with vascular risk factor and has a neuro-protective role in stroke. Objective: To assess the correlation between serum magnesium level with severity of acute stroke. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Department of Laboratory Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh, from March 2021 to February 2022. A total of 60 diagnosed patients of acute stroke were enrolled. A through neurological examination of the study patients were done, the severity of acute stroke was leveled by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score. Then, their serum magnesium levels were measured following standard procedure. Data were analyzed and compared by statistical tests. Results: The mean (±SD) age of the study patients was 61.7 (±12.2) years, with a range of 28-95 years. A male to female ratio was 1.6:1. Of them; 75% study patients had low level of serum magnesium, mean serum magnesium level was 1.52±0.30 (mg/dl) in acute stroke patients and it was significantly decreased with increasing severity of acute stroke (p= 0.048). A significant negative correlation was observed between serum magnesium level and stroke severity (r= -0.374, p= 0.003). Conclusion: Majority of the patients with acute stroke has low serum magnesium level and serum magnesium is negatively related with severity of the acute stroke.