الفهرس 
Bronchial asthmaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Bronchial asthma is a major public health problem with a high economic burden. It is a reversible disease characterized by airway obstruction, bronchial hyperreactivity and chronic inflammation. It involves several inflammatory cells and multiple mediators.
Magnesium is the fourth most common cation in the body, and the second most common intracellular cation after potassium. It has a fundamental role as a co-factor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions involving energy metabolism, nucleic acid synthesis, skeletal and smooth muscle contraction and neuronal activity.
The aim of this work is to assess the serum Mg level in bronchial asthma patients (stable and during exacerbations), compared to those of healthy controls.
This study included 40 adult patients with bronchial asthma recruited from El-Mahalla Chest Hospital divided into two groups (based on history, clinical examination and pulmonary function test): twenty patients with stable bronchial asthma and twenty patients with bronchial asthma in acute exacerbation. Also, the study included, as well, 20 matched healthy individuals, as a control group.
All participants underwent history taking, physical examination, routine investigations, spirometry and serum Mg level measurement.
It was found that:
Pulmonary function parameters (FEV1%, FEV1/FVC%) were significantly lower in asthmatic patients during exacerbations compared to stable asthmatics. There were no statistically significant differences between patients and control regarding BMI.
Serum Mg level was significantly lower in asthmatic patients compared with non asthmatic controls.
Serum Mg level was significantly lower in asthmatic patients during exacerbation compared with stable asthmatics.
There was negative non significant correlation between serum Mg level and each of age, BMI, duration of asthma/year and frequency of SABA/day. However there was a positive correlation between serum Mg level and each of FEV1/FVC ratio, FEV1, while there was a negative significant correlation between the serum Mg level and the number of asthma exacerbations/year.