Magnesium and the risk of all-cause and cardiac mortality in hemodialysis patients: agent provocateur or innocent bystander?

There have been previous reports of hypomagnesemia associated with increased cardiovascular risk in hemodialysis patients. However, these reports were often confounded by hypomagnesemia linked to increased patient co-morbidity. Sakaguchi and colleagues now report increased patient survival, with both reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality for those with mild hypomagnesemia, compared to patients with both normal and low serum magnesium concentrations, and also those with moderate hypomagnesemia.