Exploring the association between smoking and serum magnesium in type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional retrospective study

Magnesium has numerous important functions in human metabolism. Low magnesium level is a common finding in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) but the causes have not been sufficiently investigated. Smoking is associated with major health problem but the link between magnesium and smoking has been little investigated. This study aimed to compare smokers and nonsmokers in terms of magnesium data, to compare hypomagnesemics and normomagnesemics in terms of smoking data, and to investigate the correlation between data related to magnesium and smoking in T2DM. In this study, a total of 100 male patients with T2DM were investigated. Smokers (n = 35) and nonsmokers (n = 65) were compared in terms of serum magnesium level and magnesium depletion score. Hypomagnesemics (n = 23) and normomagnesemics (n = 77) were compared in terms of smoking intensity, smoking duration, and smoking pack-year. Correlation analysis was performed between data related to magnesium and smoking in T2DM. Statistical results showed that there was no significant difference between smokers and nonsmokers in terms of serum magnesium level (P = .822) and magnesium depletion score (P = .522). There was no significant difference between hypomagnesemics and normomagnesemics in terms of smoking intensity (P = .918), smoking duration (P = .923), and smoking pack-year (P = .908). No significant correlation was found between mentioned parameters related to magnesium and smoking data (P > .05). The present analysis did not support a significant association between smoking and serum magnesium in T2DM. The literature evaluating the relationship between these 2 conditions is limited. Our findings suggest smoking is not an independent determinant of hypomagnesemia in T2DM, contrary to prior reports in healthy populations.