Increased serum magnesium lowers risk of intracranial aneurysm: Study

An intracranial aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge of an artery wall in the brain. As it increases in size, it applies pressure on the surrounding structures. Following which it may remain stagnant or may even rupture in few cases. Once ruptured, it releases blood into the subarachnoid space surrounding the brain leading to subarachnoid hemorrhage. It is a debilitating condition having severe consequences. Serum magnesium concentrations have been indicated in controlling blood pressure and ensuring the optimum function of the vascular endothelium. However, whether higher serum magnesium levels increase or decrease the risk of intracranial aneurysm and the associated subarachnoid hemorrhage has never been evaluated.

A study was conducted by Larsson S and Gill D to explore the association between serum magnesium concentration and risk of intracranial aneurysm.

The researchers utilized five single-nucleotide polymorphisms linked to the serum magnesium levels from a genome-wide association study in 23,829 participants. Also, they collected genetic association estimates for intracranial aneurysms from a genome-wide association a study conducted on 79,429 people. To get the casual estimates, the inverse-variance weighted method was used for the primary analysis

Findings are as follows:

• Increased genetically predicted serum magnesium concentration was associated with decreased risk of intracranial aneurysm, i.e. genetically predicted serum magnesium concentrations were inversely associated with the risk of intracranial aneurysm.
• The odds ratio per 0.1 mmol/L for increment in genetically predicted serum magnesium concentrations were at 0.66 at (95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.91)
• Similarly, the odds ratio for intracranial aneurysm (unruptured and ruptured combined) were at 0.57 (95% confidence interval: 0.30-1.06)
• Lastly, the odds ratio for unruptured intracranial aneurysm were at 0.67 (95% confidence interval: 0.48-0.92) for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

"This is the first MR study to identify a potential causal association between serum magnesium concentrations and risk of intracranial aneurysm and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.", noted the researchers.

The authors concluded that this study bolsters the evidence that an increase in serum magnesium levels lowers the risk of intracranial aneurysm and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Thus, backing up the increasing evidence associated with the significant role of increased magnesium concentrations for overall good cardiovascular health.

Reference:

A study titled, "Association of Serum Magnesium Levels with Risk of Intracranial Aneurysm: A Mendelian Randomization Study", by Larsson S and Gill D published in the American Academy of Neurology journal.

https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2021/05/20/WNL.0000000000012244