Over-the-counter magnesium supplements help lower cardiovascular risk in diabetes

Long-term use of over-the-counter magnesium supplements appears to have cardioprotective benefits in patients with diabetes, having been shown to reduce the risk of heart failure (HF) and major adverse cardiac events, according to a study.

Researchers conducted a target trial emulation that involved a national cohort of 94,239 veterans at least 40 years of age. All of the participants had diabetes and received ambulatory care in the US veterans healthcare system. Data on self‐reported magnesium‐supplement use were obtained from clinic notes.

Of the participants, 17,619 were identified as magnesium supplement users and 76,620 were nonusers. Inverse probability treatment weighting was used to construct a balanced cohort of magnesium users and nonusers (mean age 67.4 years, 5.1 percent women, 18.4 percent Black), balanced across 88 baseline characteristics. The mean duration of magnesium‐supplement use was 3.5 years.

Incident HF was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were major adverse cardiac events (myocardial infarction, stroke, HF hospitalization, or death).

Cox regression models showed that incident HF occurred less frequently among magnesium supplements users vs nonusers (8.0 percent vs 9.7 percent; hazard ratio [HR], 0.94, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.89–0.99).

Furthermore, magnesium supplement users had a reduced risk of major adverse cardiac events compared with nonusers (HR, 0.94, 95 percent CI, 0.90–0.97).

Randomized controlled trials are needed to validate the present data, the researchers said.