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Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of hypomagnesemia in patients with decompensated chronic liver disease (CLD) presenting with hepatic encephalopathy (HE).
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Department of Medicine, Central Park Teaching Hospital, Lahore, from May 2024 to January 2025. We enrolled 163 patients with hepatic encephalopathy caused by decompensated CLD. Patients having serum magnesium levels <1.46 mg/dL were labelled as having hypomagnesemia.
Results: The mean age was 48.3 (±12.6) years. Most were male, with 106 males (65.1%) and 57 females (34.9%). Regarding the severity of hepatic encephalopathy (HE), 71.2% of participants (116 individuals) were classified as Stage I-II, while 28.8% (47 individuals) were classified as Stage III-IV. Hypomagnesemia was present in 105 (64.4%) participants. Among patients with Stage I-II HE, 69 out of 105 (59.5%) had hypomagnesemia, while 47 out of 58 (40.5%) did not. In contrast, for those with Stage III-IV HE, a much higher proportion, 36 out of 105 (76.6%), experienced hypomagnesemia, compared to only 11 out of 58 (23.4%) who did not (p-value 0.03).
Conclusion: Hypomagnesemia is very common in decompensated CLD patients. Moreover, the incidence of hypomagnesemia is directly linked to the severity of hepatic encephalopathy