Significance of serum magnesium levels in the auditory status of type II diabetes mellitus patients

Introduction and Aim: Diabetes mellitus is one of the commonest metabolic causes associated with hypomagnesaemia. Magnesium is said to be one of the chief neuroprotective and vasodilatory mineral of the body. The main aim of this study was to establish the potential correlation between the serum magnesium levels and the auditory acuity in type II Diabetes mellitus patients. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study done at Sree balaji medical college & hospital, Chrome pet, Chennai. In this study we evaluated a total of 200 type II DM cases consisting of 100 cases with poor glycaemic control, and 100 cases under glycaemic control, all are recently diagnosed cases of type II Diabetes mellitus, in the age groups of 40-55 years who had come to the hospital for their regular annual master check-ups. Their serum magnesium levels were measured using the xylidyl blue dye binding method and pure tone audiometry was also done. Results: Results showed that of the 100 poorly controlled type II DM subjects(i.e. HbA1c >/= 7),65 patients with hypomagnesaemia had sensory neural type of hearing loss & of the 100 type II DM subjects with controlled HbA1c levels(i.e. HbA1c<7), 8 out of the 10 subjects with hypomagnesaemia again had, sensory neural type of hearing loss. Conclusion: The results of this cross-sectional study proved that hypomagnesaemia results in the impairment of hearing, amidst the type II diabetic population, especially the poorly controlled diabetics are more vulnerable to develop hypomagnesaemia and its associated deafness. Thus periodic assessment of auditory status and serum magnesium levels is also required in all type II DM cases, as an early measure to prevent diabetes and hypo magnesia induced deafness.