Frequency of Hypomagnesemia in Children with Acute Diarrhea

Abstract

Objectives: To see frequency of hypomagnesemia in children with acute diarrhea.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Peads OPD of Nishtar Hospital Multan from January 2015 to December 2016.

Materials and Methods: A total of 210 children with acute diarrhea were recruited. Serum magnesium levels of these children were checked and noted in the study proforma. All the data was entered on SPSS version 20 for analysis purpose.

Results: 110 (52.4%) were boys while 100 (47.6%) were girls. Mean age of these children was 20.48 ± 11.11 months. Mean duration of disease was 5.13 ± 3.91 days and 71.4% of these children presented within week of onset of diarrhea. Mean serum magnesium level was 1.52 ± 0.193 mEq/dl and hypomagnesemia was present in 110 (52.4%) children.

Conclusions: Serum Mg level was low in our study as hypomagnesemia was highly prevalent in children with acute diarrhea. Hypomagnesemia was significantly common in boys, children under 2 years of age, consuming water from hand pumps and prolonged disease duration.