Serum magnesium level and its correlation with sensory nerve conduction in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem. Chronic hyperglycemia in uncontrolled diabetes mellitus patients leads to microvascular and macrovascular complications. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) has become the most common chronic diabetic complication, affecting about half of diabetic patients. DPN causes debilitating complications like foot ulcers and gangrene, leading to lower limb amputation and reducing the quality of life in diabetic patients. Serum magnesium has a close relationship with T2DM. It has been shown that lower serum magnesium levels are significantly associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and with various complications of diabetes, including peripheral neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, retinopathy, and foot ulcers. Aim and Objective: The objective of the study is to compare serum magnesium levels and sensory nerve conduction in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that includes 75 participants in the age group of 35–45 years. The participants were divided into 2 groups. Group I: newly diagnosed type 2 DM patients, which included 25 female and 20 male patients. Group II: Type 2 DM patients who were taking treatment for more than 5 years, which included 15 female and 15 male patients. Under aseptic precautions, a blood sample was obtained, and the estimation of serum magnesium was determined by photocolorimetry. Sensory nerve conduction (median and sural nerve) was done using recorders and medicare systems EMG EP MARK II. Statistical analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 20.0 software. Pearson correlation analysis was used to check the correlation between sensory nerve conduction and serum magnesium. P < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: In this study, the range of serum magnesium in group I was 1.5–2.9 mg/dl with a mean of 2.21 ± 0.3. The range of serum magnesium in group II was 1.4–2.5 mg/dl with a mean of 1.94 ± 0.3. The Pearson correlation between the parameters of sensory nerve conduction (median and sural nerve) and serum magnesium in terms of latency, amplitude, and conduction velocity in group I was -0.533, 0.471, 0.094, and -0.28, 0.029, 0.082, respectively; similarly, for group II, it was −0.27, 0.163, 0.607, and −0.071, 0.177, 0.028. The latency of all nerves was negatively correlated with serum magnesium. The amplitude and conduction velocities of all nerves were positively correlated with serum magnesium. Hence, serum magnesium seems to be a very good indicator of the effect of diabetes mellitus on peripheral nerves. Conclusion: In our study, we found out that serum magnesium seems to be a very good indicator of the effect of diabetes mellitus on peripheral nerves.