Hospital-Acquired Dysmagnesemia and In-Hospital Mortality

Abstract

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to report the incidence of hospital-acquired dysmagnesemia and its association with in-hospital mortality in adult general hospitalized patients. Materials and Methods: We studied 26,020 adult hospitalized patients from 2009 to 2013 who had normal admission serum magnesium levels and at least two serum magnesium measurements during hospitalization. The normal range of serum magnesium was 1.7-2.3 mg/dL. We categorized in-hospital serum magnesium levels based on the occurrence of hospital-acquired hypomagnesemia and/or hypermagnesemia. We assessed the association between hospital-acquired dysmagnesemia and in-hospital mortality using multivariable logistic regression. Results: 28% of patients developed hospital-acquired dysmagnesemia. Fifteen per cent had hospital-acquired hypomagnesemia only, 10% had hospital-acquired hypermagnesemia only, and 3% had both hospital-acquired hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia. Compared with patients with persistently normal serum magnesium levels in hospital, those with hospital-acquired hypomagnesemia only (OR 1.77; p < 0.001), hospital-acquired hypermagnesemia only (OR 2.31; p < 0.001), and both hospital-acquired hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia (OR 2.14; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with higher in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: Hospital-acquired dysmagnesemia affected approximately one-fourth of hospitalized patients. Hospital-acquired hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia were significantly associated with increased in-hospital mortality.

Keywords: electrolytes; hospitalization; hypermagnesemia; hypomagnesemia; internal medicine; magnesium; mortality; nephrology.