Low Magnesium After Kidney Transplant Hikes Risk for New-Onset Diabetes

Low serum magnesium levels following kidney transplantation is an independent risk factor for new-onset diabetes after transplantation, according to a new study.

In a retrospective cohort study of 948 kidney transplant recipients without diabetes, a team led by S. Joseph Kim, MD, of the University of Toronto, found that each 0.1-mmol/L decrease in serum magnesium after transplantation was associated with a significant 24% increased risk for new-onset diabetes after transplantation, after adjusting for recipient age, sex, race, body mass index, cause of end-stage renal disease, time on dialysis, and other potential confounders.

Hypomagnesemia, defined as a serum magnesium level below 0.74 mmol/L, was associated with a significant 58% increased risk for new-onset diabetes after transplantation compared with normal magnesium levels, the investigators reported online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. In time-varying and rolling-average models, hypomagnesemia was associated with a significant 78%, and 83% increased risk.

The researchers observed 182 new-onset diabetes after transplantation events over 2951 person-years of follow-up. The median time to new-onset diabetes after transplantation was 0.6 years. The new-onset diabetes after transplantation incidence rate was 6.2 per 100 person-years.

Reference

1. Huang JW, Famure O, Li Y, Kim SJ. Hypomagnesemia and the Risk of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus after Kidney Transplantation. J AM Soc Nephrol. 2015;doi:10.1681/ASN.2015040391.

This article originally appeared on Renal and Urology News