Comparison of Serum Level of Magnesium in Patients Received Pantoprazole or Ranitidine in Intensive Care Unit

Some of studies showed that using proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) in hospitalized patients is one of the causes of decreased serum magnesium level that leads to electrolytic imbalance. This study aimed to compare serum level of magnesium in patients who received pantoprazole or ranitidine in intensive care unit.
In a clinical trial study, 50 patients hospitalized in intensive care units of Alzahra hospital, Isfahan, Iran, were randomly divided in to two groups of 25. Patients were treated with pantoprazole and ranitidine in first and second groups, respectively. Serum level of magnesium was measured during two weeks after entrance to intensive care units and compared between the groups.
Findings: Mean serum level of magnesium in the two groups of pantoprazole and ranitidine in second day of hospitalization was 1.90 ± 0.11 and 1.98 ± 0.13 mg/dl, respectively and there was statistically difference between the two groups (P = 0.017). Serum level of magnesium until the 10th day of hospitalization was significantly different between the two groups. In addition, the trend of serum level of magnesium was different between the two groups (P Our study showed that consumption of ranitidine led to less decrease of serum level of magnesium among patients hospitalized in internal care units. But, considering our limitations as the amount of cases, more studies on using ranitidine are recommended.