Status of serum magnesium in Egyptian children with type 1 diabetes and its correlation to glycemic control and lipid profile

Diabetes mellitus has been suggested to be the most common metabolic disorder associated with magnesium deficiency, having 25% to 39% prevalence. This deficit could be associated with the development of late diabetic complications, especially macroangiopathy. We aimed to evaluate the status of serum Mg in children with type 1 diabetes and assess its relation to glycemic control and lipid profile. We included 71 Egyptian children with type 1diabetes having their follow-up at Pediatric Endocrinology outpatient clinic, Zagazig University Hospital and 71 age- and sex-matched control. We measured Serum magnesium, HbA1c, and lipid profile in all study subjects. Diabetic children had significantly lower serum magnesium level compared to control children (1.83 ± .27 mg/dL in diabetic children versus 2.00 ± .16 mg/dL in control children). Taking cut-off level of serum magnesium <1.7 mg/dL for definition of hypomagnesemia, hypomagnesemia was detected in 28.2% of diabetic children compared to 9.9% of control children. In diabetic patients, there was statistically significant difference in HbA1c between hypomagnesemic and normomagnesemic group being higher in the low magnesium group, as it is mean ± SD was 11.93 ± 3.17 mg/dL in group I versus 8.92 ± 0.93 mg/dL in the normomagnesemic group. Serum magnesium was found to be positively correlated with HDL (P < 0.001), and negatively correlated with age, HbA1c, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL, and duration of diabetes (P < 0.001). We concluded that total serum magnesium was frequently low in Egyptian children with type 1 diabetes and it is correlated with HbA1c and with lipid profile. Hypomagnesemia was more evident in patients with poor diabetic control and those with higher atherogenic lipid parameters. We suggest that low serum magnesium may be included in pathogenesis of poor glycemic control and abnormal lipid profile in children with type 1 diabetes. We need to perform further studies on giving magnesium supplements in diabetic children with hypomagnesemia to observe the effect of correction of serum magnesium on glycemic control, lipid profile, and the risk of diabetic complications.