Evaluation of Serum Magnesium Level in a Sample of Egyptian Major Depressive Disorder Patients

Abstract Background Major depressive disorder (MDD); is a leading psychiatric illness across the world, severely affecting quality of life and causing an increased incidence of suicide, although its underlying pathophysiology is still unclear and recently multiple studies were concerned with the relation between serum Magnesium (Mg) level and MDD. Mg is a cofactor for over 300 enzymes and is essential for anaerobic and aerobic energy production, glycolysis, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, as well as potassium and calcium regulation. Moreover, Mg has significant antidepressant action through the blockade of the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). Aim of the Work To examine serum Mg level in patients of MDD, to evaluate the relation between serum Mg level and MDD, to correlate serum Mg level to severity of symptoms of MDD. Patients and Methods 30 patients were included, selected from inpatient ward and outpatient clinics at Okasha institute of psychiatry, neuropsychiatry department, faculty of medicine, Ain Shams University and fulfilled the criteria of diagnosis of MDD by Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) and 30 healthy controls who were age and sex matched, selected from workers at Okasha institute of psychiatry, Hamilton depression scale (Ham-D 17) was used for assessment of severity of depressive symptoms in patients, in addition a sample of 2 ml blood was withdrawn from both groups for assessment of serum Mg level using Serum Mg colorimetric assay kit. Results Our study showed that there was non-significant difference as regards the age and gender between the two groups, on the other hand there was significant difference between the patients and controls regarding the serum Mg level (p = 0.015) denoting that MDD patients had lower serum Mg level than healthy controls, with statistically significant inverse correlation between serum Mg level and the severity of depression (p = 0.001). Conclusion The findings in our study highlight that MDD patients had lower serum Mg level than healthy controls with a significant inverse correlation between serum Mg level and the severity of depression.