Authors : Pradeep Kumar Meena, Sunita Maheshwari
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijogr.2020.077
Volume : 7
Issue : 3
Year : 2020
Page No : 356-363
Introduction: Serum magnesium level in pregnancy is a valuable tool to find out preterm onset of labour.
In the asymptomatic group, greater surveillance and administration of steroids, tocolytics and transfer
to a higher centre wherever necessary has to be done with mothers with low serum magnesium level.
Spontaneous preterm labor that is labor before 37 weeks of gestation is the main cause of preterm delivery.
With increasing gestation the level of Serum magnesium levels decreases.
Materials and Methods: A case-control study was carried out to evaluate serum magnesium levels and
associated symptoms in women with preterm labour (28-36 weeks) and compare them with patients in
same gestational age who delivered at term (37-40 weeks).
Results: Women in preterm labour had a significantly reduced serum magnesium level (mean 1.466 mg/dl
with a S.D. of 0.077 versus 2.083 mg/dl with a SD of 0.105) for those delivered at normal magnesium
levels.(p<0>
The serum Magnesium level of preterm patients ranged from 1.32 to 1.60 mg/dl with mean Magnesium
level of 1.466 + 0.077 S.D. In normal pregnant women it ranged from 1.85 to 2.36 mg/dl with a mean
Magnesium level of 2.083 + 0.105 S.D which was highly significant (p<0>
Magnesium levels observed between the study population and control population is independent of factors
like maternal age, parity, socio-economical status.
Conclusion: The present study revealed significantly lower levels of serum magnesium in patients with
preterm labour without any apparent cause as compared to normal pregnant women in labour. Hence,
estimation of serum magnesium levels in pregnancy may be a useful parameter in preterm labour. The
results of the present study add to the existing evidence that low serum magnesium level may be a risk
factor for preterm labour.
Keywords: Preterm, Serum magnesium level, Term delivery, Parameter.