Liu Xiaoting, Hu Jianzhang
Department of Ophthalmology, Fujian Provincial Governmental Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Department of Ophthalmology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2025 Mar 4;12:1509820. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1509820. eCollection 2025.
We aimed to investigate the association between serum magnesium (Mg) levels and small fiber neuropathy among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
This study retrospectively collected data from patients with T2DM. Patients were divided based on the quartiles of the serum concentrations of Mg. Corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) was employed to determine the morphological parameters of corneal nerve fibers, including corneal nerve fiber length (CNFL), fiber density (CNFD), and branch density (CNBD). Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the association between the serum levels of Mg and the morphological parameters of corneal nerve fibers.
In total, 136 patients with T2DM were enrolled in this study. All morphological parameters of corneal nerve fibers increased with the increasing quartiles of serum Mg levels. Using Pearson correlation analysis, we found a significant and positive association between the serum levels of Mg and CNFL ( = 0.550, < 0.001), CNFD ( = 0.432, < 0.001), and CNBD ( = 0.425, < 0.001). After adjusting for covariates, the serum levels of Mg remained positively correlated with CNFL ( = 0.495, < 0.001), CNFD ( = 0.361, < 0.001), and CNBD ( = 0.374, < 0.001) in the fully adjusted model.
The serum levels of Mg were positively and independently correlated with the morphological parameters of the corneal nerve among patients with T2DM. Serum Mg levels can serve as a potential biomarker for screening corneal small fiber neuropathy in patients with T2DM.
我们旨在研究2型糖尿病（T2DM）患者血清镁（Mg）水平与小纤维神经病变之间的关联。
本研究回顾性收集了T2DM患者的数据。根据血清Mg浓度的四分位数对患者进行分组。采用角膜共焦显微镜（CCM）来确定角膜神经纤维的形态学参数，包括角膜神经纤维长度（CNFL）、纤维密度（CNFD）和分支密度（CNBD）。进行Pearson相关分析和多元线性回归分析，以研究血清Mg水平与角膜神经纤维形态学参数之间的关联。
本研究共纳入136例T2DM患者。角膜神经纤维的所有形态学参数均随着血清Mg水平四分位数的增加而增加。通过Pearson相关分析，我们发现血清Mg水平与CNFL（r = 0.550，P < 0.001）、CNFD（r = 0.432，P < 0.001）和CNBD（r = 0.425，P < 0.001）之间存在显著正相关。在调整协变量后，在完全调整模型中，血清Mg水平仍与CNFL（β = 0.495，P < 0.001）、CNFD（β = 0.361，P < 0.001）和CNBD（β = 0.374，P < 0.001）呈正相关。
T2DM患者血清Mg水平与角膜神经的形态学参数呈正相关且独立相关。血清Mg水平可作为筛查T2DM患者角膜小纤维神经病变的潜在生物标志物。
