Hypomagnesemia in Critically Ill Patients Bent-Are Hansen1 and Øyvind Bruserud2*
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Hansen and Bruserud Journal of Intensive Care (2018) 6:21 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40560-018-0291-y REVIEW Open Access Hypomagnesemia in critically ill patients Bent-Are Hansen1 and Øyvind Bruserud2* Abstract Background: Magnesium (Mg) is essential for life and plays a crucial role in several biochemical and physiological processes in the human body. Hypomagnesemia is common in all hospitalized patients, especially in critically ill patients with coexisting electrolyte abnormalities. Hypomagnesemia may cause severe and potential fatal complications if not timely diagnosed and properly treated, and associate with increased mortality. Main body: Mg deficiency in critically ill patients is mainly caused by gastrointestinal and/or renal disorders and may lead to secondary hypokalemia and hypocalcemia, and severe neuromuscular and cardiovascular clinical manifestations. Because of the physical distribution of Mg, there are no readily or easy methods to assess Mg status. However, serum Mg and the Mg tolerance test are most widely used. There are limited studies to guide intermittent therapy of Mg deficiency in critically ill patients, but some empirical guidelines exist. Further clinical trials and critical evaluation of empiric Mg replacement strategies is needed. Conclusion: Patients at risk of Mg deficiency, with typical biochemical findings or clinical symptoms of hypomagnesemia, should be considered for treatment even with serum Mg within the normal range. Keywords: Magnesium, Critical illness, Intensive care unit, Arrhythmia, Potassium, Calcium Background Magnesium homeostasis Magnesium (Mg) is essential for life and plays a crucial Mg is the fourth most abundant cation in the human role in several biochemical and physiological processes body and the second most abundant intracellular cation. in the human body. Hypomagnesemia is common in A healthy human adult have a content of about 25 g or hospitalized patients (7–11%) and even more frequent in 1000 mmol Mg where approximately 60% stores in patients with other coexisting electrolyte abnormalities bones, 20% in muscles, 20% in soft tissues, 0.5% in [1–3] and in critically ill patients [4, 5]. Hypomagnes- erythrocytes, and 0.3% in serum [11]. About 70% of the emia can potentially cause fatal complications including plasma Mg is ionized or complexed to filterable ions, ventricular arrhythmia, coronary artery spasm, and sud- while 20% is bound to proteins. Figure 1 gives a general den death. It also associates with increased mortality overview of the Mg homeostasis in the human body. and prolonged hospitalization [6, 7]. The role of Mg Mg homeostasis in humans mainly involves the kid- status and therapy in critically ill patients has previously neys, the small bowel, and bones [12]. Gastrointestinal been systematically reviewed elsewhere [8–10]. However, absorption and renal excretion are the most important we here present a review article focusing on the Mg mechanisms for controlling and regulating the Mg homeostasis and the physiological role of Mg in humans. homeostasis. The cellular regulation of Mg uptake and We then present the different causes and clinical and release occurs slowly, and healthy individuals need to biochemical manifestations of hypomagnesemia in critic- ingest about 0.15–0.2 mmol/kg/day to contain a normal ally ill patients and, finally, we discuss Mg therapy in the Mg status. The intestinal absorption of dietary Mg de- intensive care unit (ICU) setting. pends on both intake and body Mg status and occurs via passive and active pathways [13, 14]. Presumably, only ionized Mg is absorbed. Active transcellular Mg uptake rely on specific Mg channels located in the large intes- * Correspondence: [email protected] tines [14, 15] including the transient receptor potential 2Section for Endocrinology, Department of Clinical Science, University of melastin (TRPM) 6 and TRPM 7. The passive absorption Bergen, Bergen, Norway is driven by a favorable electrochemical gradient and Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Hansen and Bruserud Journal of Intensive Care (2018) 6:21 Page 2 of 11 Fig. 1 Mg homeostasis. The figure gives an overview of the Mg homeostasis and the distribution of Mg throughout the human body including gastrointestinal absorption and renal excretion occurs mainly paracellulary through leaky epithelia pri- changes in the transepithelial voltage and alterations of marily located in the small intestines [14]. Additionally, the permeability of the paracellular tight junctions [18]. the process of passive absorption interacts with the The mechanisms of basolateral transport into the inter- levels and absorption of calcium [14]. stitium are not fully understood. Moreover, the proximal The kidneys are the primary site of Mg homeostasis tubule reabsorbs 15–20% of filtered Mg, and the distal and play a key role in regulating and maintaining Mg tubule only 5–10% [17, 18], whereas there is no signifi- balance. Figure 2 illustrates the renal handling of Mg in cant reabsorption of Mg in the collecting ducts [19]. humans. The normal fractional urinary excretion of filtered Mg is about 5% [16]. Mg reabsorption in the kid- Physiological role of magnesium neys involves the proximal tubule, the thick ascending Mg is a crucial cofactor in several enzyme systems [20] loop of Henle (TAL), and the distal tubule [17, 18]. TAL including almost every aspect of biochemical metabol- is the major site of Mg reabsorption and reabsorbs about ism (e.g., DNA and protein synthesis, glycolysis, oxida- 60–70% of filtered Mg [17, 18], and extracellular calcium tive phosphorylation). The essential enzymes adenylate sensing receptors modulate the Mg absorption through cyclase and sodium-potassium-adenosine triphosphatase Fig. 2 Renal Mg handling. The figure gives an overview of the renal handling of Mg in the proximal convoluted tubule, loop of Henle, and distal convoluted tubule Hansen and Bruserud Journal of Intensive Care (2018) 6:21 Page 3 of 11 depend on Mg for their normal function [21, 22]. Mg whether levels of serum ionized Mg or total serum Mg serves as a molecular stabilizer for RNA, DNA, and should be used to follow-up Mg levels in critically ill ribosomes. It is also suggested to modulate immune patients [7, 33–40]. Finally, the intracellular levels of Mg functions [23, 24], and changes in the level of Mg are can be measured using circulating red blood cells, reported to correlate with the levels of several immune mononuclear cells, or skeletal muscle cells. Due to the mediators such as interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor- lack of an accurate and robust method to measure Mg alpha, interferon-gamma, and substance P [25–27]. More- status in patients, the biochemical measurements should over, Mg are proven to contribute in several physiological always be supported by a clinical assessment of patients processes such as maintaining stability across cell mem- at risk for Mg deficiency for timely and proper diagnosis branes, protein, and nucleic acid synthesis; regulating car- and treatment. diac and smooth muscle tone; controlling of mitochondrial functions; and supporting cytoskeletal integrity [28]. Causes of hypomagnesemia in critically ill patients Defining magnesium status The causes of hypomagnesemia in critically ill patients Normal serum concentration of Mg is 1.5 to 1.9 mEq/L are mainly a result of gastrointestinal disorders or renal [29]. Unfortunately, there are no readily and easy loss of Mg. Table 1 lists the differential diagnosis of Mg methods to assess Mg status. However, serum Mg and deficiency in the ICU patients. the Mg tolerance test are most widely used [30]. The serum Mg is easily available but may not adequately Gastrointestinal causes reflect the body Mg stores because of the physiological Both the upper and lower intestinal tract fluid contain distribution of Mg. Notably, normal serum levels may be Mg. Therefore, loss of gastrointestinal fluids can cause Mg found even if a patient is intracellularly Mg depleted deficiency. Several conditions commonly seen in the ICU because intracellular stores are recruited to keep the patients can cause gastrointestinal loss of Mg leading to serum levels within its range, however, only until the point where these stores cannot keep up. Although only free Mg is biologically active, most test measure total Table 1 Differential diagnosis of Mg deficiency in the ICU setting Mg concentrations, and hypoalbuminemic states may Gastrointestinal disorders therefore lead to false low Mg levels. Prolonged nasogastric suction The Mg tolerance test is probably the most accurate Malabsorption syndromes way to assess Mg status [31]. The test is used in special occasions for example if the clinical suspicion of Mg Extensive bowel resection deficiency is strong and the serum Mg levels are normal. Acute and chronic diarrhea The test is performed by measuring the Mg in a 24-h Intestinal and biliary fistulae