Obesity, type 2 diabetes, arterial hypertension, decrease in immune response, cytokine storm, endothelial dysfunction, and arrhythmias, which are frequent in COVID-19 patients, are associated with hypomagnesemia. Given that cellular influx and efflux of magnesium and calcium involve the same transporters, we aimed to evaluate the association of serum magnesium-to-calcium ratio with mortality from severe COVID-19. The clinical and laboratory data of 1064 patients, aged 60.3 ± 15.7 years, and hospitalized by COVID-19 from March 2020 to July 2021 were analyzed. The data of 554 (52%) patients discharged per death were compared with the data of 510 (48%) patients discharged per recovery. The ROC curve showed that the best cut-off point of the magnesium-to-calcium ratio for identifying individuals at high risk of mortality from COVID-19 was 0.20. The sensitivity and specificity were 83% and 24%. The adjusted multivariate regression model showed that the odds ratio between the magnesium-to-calcium ratio ≤0.20 and discharge per death from COVID-19 was 6.93 (95%CI 1.6-29.1) in the whole population, 4.93 (95%CI 1.4-19.1, p = 0.003) in men, and 3.93 (95%CI 1.6-9.3) in women. In conclusion, our results show that a magnesium-to-calcium ratio ≤0.20 is strongly associated with mortality in patients with severe COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19; magnesium-to-calcium ratio; mortality.