CIRCULATING TOTAL AND IONIZED MAGNESIUM AFTER ETHANOL INGESTION

Hypomagnesemia is associated with alcoholism (Lim P, Jacob E. Metaboli sm 1972;21:1045-51). Here we assess two measurements of blood magnesiu n in emergency care patients with confirmed ethanol ingestion. Serum t otal and ionized magnesium (tMg, iMg) were measured in 88 patients wit h ethanol concentrations of 6-128 mmol/L and in sera of 97 hospitalize d patients (control group). iMg was measured by an ion-selective elect rode method; tMg was measured spectrophotometrically. iMg was signific antly lower for the ethanol-containing specimens (0.35 +/- 0.12 mmol/L , mean +/- SD) than for the control group (0.46 +/- 0.15 mmol/L), with P <0.0001. The tMg for the test group (0.87 +/- 0.20 mmol/L) was not significantly different from the controls (0.88 +/- 0.33 mmol/L), with P = 0.5987. tMg was not well-correlated with iMg in the ethanol-posit ive specimens. Most ethanol-positive patients had abnormally low serum iMg (87 of 88 had iMg <0.53 mmol/L).