Hypomagnesemia in patients entering the ICU

Abstract

Serum magnesium was measured in 102 consecutive patients admitted to a medical ICU. Twenty percent of these patients had hypomagnesemia and 9% had hypermagnesemia. There were no other laboratory tests or clinical features suggesting hypomagnesemia. Of all ion levels measured routinely in these patients, serum magnesium had the highest prevalence of abnormal values.