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NEWS: Lynn Eaton Magnesium could save hundreds of women's lives worldwide BMJ 2002; 324: 1351a [Full text]

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Bed-side diagnosing magnesium deficiency syndrome.

Sergio Stagnaro   (7 June 2002)

Why not save money in "high income countries"?

Angelika H. Wischner   (8 June 2002)

Clinical Application of the Magpie Trial in Developed Countries

Sunit M. Rane   (9 July 2002)

Bed-side diagnosing magnesium deficiency syndrome. 7 June 2002
Sergio Stagnaro, Specialist in Blood, Gastrointestinal and Metabolic Diseases. Researcher in Biophysical Semeiotics. Via Erasmo Piaggio 23/8 16037 Riva Trigoso (Genoa) Italy Send response to journal: Re: Bed-side diagnosing magnesium deficiency syndrome.	Sirs, nowadays doctor can recognize at the bed-side in a few minutes, in a "quantitative" way, magnesium deficiency syndrome (1), which is really more frequent than generally admitted. I agree completely with those authors, which suggest magnesium intravenous or oral administration in order to reduce eclampsia seriousness as well as numerous others disorders. For further information See: HONCode ID. N. 233736 http://digilander.iol.it/semeioticabiofisica and the Page Semeiotica Biofisica, I holde weekly in italian site www.katamed.it. 1)Stagnaro-Neri M. Stagnaro S., Diagnosi percusso-ascoltatoria e monitoraggio terapeutico della sindrome Magnesio-carenziale. Gazz. Med. It. – Arch. Sc. Med. 147, 259, 1988.
Why not save money in "high income countries"? 8 June 2002
Angelika H. Wischner, teacher D 10777 Berllin Send response to journal: Re: Why not save money in "high income countries"?	Dear Sir,dear Madam, Although this is a medical news item of promising content, I was taken aback by the concluding comment: (quote) "Importantly," she said, "it is a very inexpensive treatment, making it especially suitable for use in low income countries." (unquote) Why do doctors seem to be so dependant on higher cost medication for their patients? Are they really that much influenced in their thinking by high cost marketing techniques? I surely wish low cost med be more seriously researched. Sincerely, Geli Wischner
Clinical Application of the Magpie Trial in Developed Countries 9 July 2002
Sunit M. Rane, Research Registrar Dept. of Obs. & Gyn. St. Mary's Hospital Portsmouth PO3 6AD Send response to journal: Re: Clinical Application of the Magpie Trial in Developed Countries	Dear Sirs, The Magpie trial has shown very categorically that by using magnesium sulphate in preeclampsia, the incidence of eclampsia is reduced by 58% and the relative risk of maternal mortality is 0.55. The inclusion criteria for the trial included pregnant women with a BP of 140/90 mm Hg and above and proteinuria of +1 and above. There is no doubt of its value in developing countries where the incidence of eclampsia varies between 1 in 100 to 1 in 1000. In developed countries however, the incidence of eclampsia is about 1 in 2000 and two thirds of maternal deaths due to hypertensive disorders in pregnancy were due to preeclampsia and one third due to eclampsia(Confidential enquiries into Maternal Deaths 97'-99'). Hence, if we give magnesium sulphate to all pregnant women with a BP of 140/90 mm Hg and above and protenuria of +1 and above, we will be treating a huge number of women (with about 25% experiencing sideeffects) to prevent a very small number of cases of eclampsia. Therefore, it would be useful if we could further categorise the women from the trial, according to their ethnic background, location, symptoms, presence of hyperreflexia and the prophylactic benefit of magnesium sulphate.