Hypomagnesaemia have been reported to occur with an increased frequency in type 2 diabetics compared with their counterparts without diabetes. Abnormalities of magnesium levels, such as hypomagnesaemia, can result in disturbances in nearly every organ system and can cause potentially fatal complications (e.g., ventricular arrhythmia, coronary artery vasospasm, sudden death). Premature ventricular complexes (PVC) predict cardiovascular mortality among several adult populations. This study was done to find correlation between serum magnesium levels of diabetics and incidence of arrhythmias.

We analyzed the serum magnesium levels in fifty consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes presenting with acute coronary syndrome in CCU of Services Hospital, Lahore and prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias in these patients. Serum magnesium levels were measured at presentation and twenty four hour Holter monitoring was done for the detection of arrhythmias.

There were 33 male (66%); 17 female (34%) patients and mean age of presentation was 60 years (± 20 years). 7 (14%) out of 50 patients had hypomagnesaemia (<1.7mg/dl), 2 females and 5 males. ‘Ventricular premature contractions’ in hypomagnesemic patients were 1.5 times the patients with normal magnesium level. There was no definite relationship observed between serum magnesium level and ‘supraventricular premature contractions’.

Although ventricular premature contractions are more common in patients with hypomagnesaemia and may result into life threatening arrhythmias but no life threatening arrhythmias (e.g., ventricular tachycardia and torsade de pointes) were seen in our study population with hypomagnesemia.