Correlation Between Serum Magnesium And Arrhythmias In Acute Myocardial Infarction – One Year Cross Sectional Study In A Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background and objectives Life threatening arrhythmias are more frequent in patients with AMI with low serum magnesium levels. The present study was planned to evaluate the relationship between arrhythmias and serum magnesium levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Materials and methods This one year cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Medicine, KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Belgaum. A total of 100 patients who were admitted with acute myocardial infarction from January 2014 to December 2014 were studied. All the patients underwent estimation of serum magnesium levels and monitored for arrhythmias. Results More than three fourth of the study population was comprised of males (76%) and male to female ratio was noted as 3.16:1. Most of the patients were aged between 46 to 60 years (47%) and mean age was 57.11 ± 12.16 years. History of hypertension and diabetes mellitus present in 36% and 33% of the patients respectively. Majority of the patients (90%) presented with chest pain and 17% of the patients had crepitations. The commonest type of MI was AWMI (38%) followed by IWMI (28%). Serum magnesium levels were low (<1.80) in 30% of the patients. Arrhythmias were noted in 14 (14%) patients and 3 patients each (21.43% each) had first degree AV block, supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia. Significantly higher number of patients with low serum magnesium levels had arrhythmias (40% vs 2.86%; p<0.001) and also mean serum magnesium levels were significantly low in patients who had arrhythmias (1.52 ± 0.34 vs 2.10 ± 0.43; p<0.001). No association was found between types of arrhythmia with serum magnesium levels. Conclusion Patients presenting with AMI are likely to have hypomagnesemia and these patients have high risk of cardiac arrhythmias.