A comparative study of serum magnesium between normal healthy pregnant women and pre-eclamptics in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Background: Low serum magnesium levels have been implicated in the prevalence of pre-eclampsia. However, these levels are not routinely assessed amongst parturients. Aim: The study was to compare the serum magnesium levels between normal healthy pregnant and preeclamptic women. Methods: A total of one hundred and forty-four pregnant women aged 18 to 45 years in their third trimester were recruited from the antenatal clinic into this prospective comparative study by convenient sampling method and assigned into two groups of 72 women each. One group was made up of healthy pregnant women while the other group had diagnosed pre-eclamptics women. Blood samples were collected and analysed by the attending Chemical Pathologist for serum magnesium levels. The results of serum magnesium were entered into the data bank and analysed. Results: The mean magnesium levels in normal healthy pregnant women and pre-eclamptic pregnant women were 0.99  0.28 and 0.790.24mmol/l respectively. There were significantly lower mean serum magnesium levels among pre-eclamptic compared to normal healthy pregnant women (t=4.516, p=0.000013). Pre-eclampsia patients had much lower serum magnesium levels than normal, healthy pregnant women, according to observations made at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Conclusion: Pre-eclampsia patients in this study showed significantly decreased serum magnesium levels when compared to the healthy population of pregnant women; hence the need for a routine magnesium screening of women during pregnancy.