Magnesium levels and diabetic retinopathy

We measured magnesium levels in 85 diabetic patients with diabetic retinopathy. Compared with controls, these patients showed a significant decrease in plasma magnesium level [P<0.02] and an increase in urinary magnesium level [P<0.05]. This tendency was most significant in the sub-group of poorly controlled diabetics, whose fasting plasma glucose was above 250 mg/dl. Reduced levels of magnesium in plasma and in erythrocytes were found to be more pronounced in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy than in those with no retinopathy or with background retinopathy only. [Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology 9:3-5, January, 1993]