Hypomagnesaemia among children at pediatric intensive care unit, Nishtar Hospital, Multan

Objectives: Magnesium is the 2nd most abundant intracellular cation and it is vital for more than 300 enzymatic reactions which are involved in various metabolic processes in our body, but still, it is often a parameter which is overlooked by the clinicians. This study was conducted to determine the frequency of hypomagnesaemia among children admitted in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pediatric medicine, Unit-I, Nishtar Hospital, Multan. Periods: From 1st August 2017 to 31st May 2018. Material & Methods: A total of 379 children of age group 1-12 years and either gender were admitted at PICU irrespective of presenting complaint with duration of illness less than 2 weeks were included. Post stratification chi-square test was applied to see the effect of different variables like age of the patients, BMI, duration of illness and serum Magnesium levels, hypomagnesaemia, residential status, socioeconomic status, mother’s education and gender, on hypomagnesaemia. P value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Of these 379 study cases, 221(58.3%) were boys while 158 (41.7%) were girls. Mean age of our study cases was 4.81 ± 2.27 years. Mean duration of illness was 5.57 ± 2.34 days. Mean weight of study cases was 17. 30 ± 5.92 kilograms. Mean serum Magnesium level was 1.45 ± 0.67 mg/dl. Hypomagnesemia was found to be present in 190 (50.1%). Male gender, urban residential status, illiteracy, hospitalization before PICU admission, disease duration of 1 to 2 weeks and weight < 20 kg turned out to be significantly associated (p < 0.05) with hypomagnesaemia. Conclusion: High frequency of hypomagnesaemia was noted among children admitted at PICU. Children with hypomagnesaemia had prolonged hospital stay and adverse outcomes. Hypomagnesaemia was significantly associated with male gender, residential status, mother’s educational level, hospitalization before PICU admission, disease duration and weight.