[Hypomagnesemia in patients with chronic alcoholism in the course of alcohol withdrawal syndrome]. / Gipomagniemiia u bol'nykh khronicheskim alkogolizmom vo vremia abstinentnogo sindroma.

AIM: To ascertain hypomagnesemia (HM) rate in patients with chronic alcoholism (CA) with alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS); correlation between AWS severity and HM rate. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Mg in plasm was measured at photometry in 129 CA patients treated in Kaunas Mental Hospital. RESULTS: Plasma Mg in CA patients with AWS was reduced (< 0.749 mmol/l), normal (0.750-1.250 mmol/l) or high (> 1.251 mmol/l) in 28.7, 65.1 and 6.2% patients, respectively. HM was diagnosed in 42.3% with a severe, 19.1% with a moderate and 20.0% with weak AWS. CONCLUSION: HM in AWS was registered in 28.7% patients. It occurred significantly more frequently (p < 0.05) in patients with a severe AWS. Pathogenetic mechanisms of HM in AWS are described.