The relationship between total and ionic serum
magnesium in health and
chronic disease across different ethnicities has not been well studied. Accordingly, we have examined the interrelationship between total
magnesium and ionic
magnesium, as well as ionic
calcium to ionic
magnesium ratio, in 286 patients made up of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, with or without diabetes. Significant correlations were noted between total and ionic
magnesium in all groups (p < 0.001). Amongst people with diabetes, the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.81 whereas in non-diabetics, the r was 0.66. This relationship was independent of whether the sample was from indigenous (r = 0.71) or non-indigenous (r = 0.81) participants. Overall the correlation between total and ionic
magnesium across all participants was 0.75. There was no correlation between serum total
magnesium and serum ionic
calcium (r = 0.07), and similarly none between serum ionic
magnesium and serum ionic
calcium (r = 0.26). There was, however, a significant negative correlation between the
calcium:
magnesium ratio and serum total
magnesium (r = 0.80; p < 0.001) across all participants, irrespective of whether the sample was made up of indigenous (r = 0.83) or non-indigenous participants (r = 0.77), or of diabetics (r = 0.71) versus non-diabetics (r = 0.83). We conclude that total and ionic
magnesium serum concentrations are strongly correlated, and that either gives an accurate assessment of
magnesium status in health and chronic diabetes, irrespective of ethnicity.