Prevalence of Prehypertension in Mexico and Its Association With Hypomagnesemia

Abstract

Prehypertension (preHTN) increases the risk of developing hypertension. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of preHTN in the Mexican adult population and evaluate the association between hypomagnesemia and preHTN. This study was a 2-phase, population-based study. In the first phase, 4,272 Mexican adults (aged 20–65 years) were enrolled to determine the prevalence of preHTN. In the second phase, a cross-sectional analysis was performed to evaluate the association between hypomagnesemia and preHTN. The exclusion criteria were chronic diarrhea, malignancy, hepatic and renal diseases, chronic inflammatory disease, and the intake of magnesium supplements. PreHTN was defined as a systolic blood pressure (BP) of 120–139mm Hg and/or diastolic BP of 80–89mm Hg, and hypomagnesemia was defined as a serum magnesium concentration P < 0.0005). A multiple logistic regression analysis (adjusted for age, sex, smoking, body mass index, waist circumference, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides levels) indicated a significant association between hypomagnesemia and preHTN (odds ratio = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.5–4.0, P < 0.0005). The prevalence of preHTN in the Mexican population is 37.5%, and hypomagnesemia is strongly associated with preHTN.