Low Prevalence of Hypomagnesemia in Long-Term Recipients of Proton Pump Inhibitors in a Managed Care Cohort.
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015 Oct 20;
Authors: Sharara AI, Chalhoub JM, Hammoud N, Harb AH, Sarkis FS, Hamadeh G
Abstract
Chronic intake of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) has been associated with hypomagnesemia but prevalence of PPI-associated hypomagnesemia is not known. We examined the prevalence of hypomagnesemia among long-term PPI recipients using a large health maintenance organization database. We collected data on 10,167 participants eligible for chronic drug prescriptions from 2008 through 2013. Adult subjects receiving continuous PPI therapy for ≥6 months between and ≥1 serum magnesium determination were identified. Patients with any magnesium levels less than 1.6 mg/dl were selected for analysis; those with recognizable causes of altered magnesium homeostasis were excluded. Five hundred ninety participants received long-term PPIs and 414 (70.2%) met the inclusion criteria, for a total exposure of 2293 PPI-years (average 5.7 years/subject). Of these patients, 57 (13.8%) had ≥1 low serum magnesium: 5 were no longer on PPIs and 44 had other recognizable causes for hypomagnesemia (25 receiving diuretics, 8 with chronic diarrhea, 8 with chronic kidney disease, and 3 with malignancies). Of the 8 remaining patients (7 female; mean age, 71.2±13.4 years; mean daily medications, 5.4±1.1), mild hypomagnesemia (range, 1.2-1.5mg/dl) was noted in 13.9% of 289 measurements. All 8 patients had normal serum levels of magnesium at their final measurement. In the absence of known precipitating factors, chronic PPI use does not therefore appear to be associated with hypomagnesemia.
PMID: 26499924 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]