Abstract
Objective: To assess the prevalence of hypomagnesaemia and its co-occurrence with other diseases in children aged 6-60 months admitted to Children’s Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Multan (CH&ICH Multan).
Methodology: This prospective observational study was conducted in Nutrition Stabilization Center at Children’s Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Multan from May 2019 to January 2020. A total number of 384 malnourished children aged 6-60 months were included in the study. The nutritional status of children was accessed according to WHO criteria as weight for height or length <-3SD or mid upper arm circumference <11.5 cm and presence of severe signs of wasting and bilateral edema. For data analysis SPSS version 20 was used.
Results: Out of 384 children, 163(42.45%) had hypomagnesaemia. The mean age was 18.4±2.8. Male to female ratio was 1.21:1 with 96(58.89%) male and 67(41.11%) female had hypomagnesaemia. We found that 62(38.04%) hypomagnesaemia children belonged to age group 12-24 years. Most children, 121(31.51%) were aged 12-24 months and 282(73.44%) belonged to very poor socio-economic status.
Conclusion: Hypomagnesaemia was very common among hospitalized children which can cause many complications that increases the mortality rate and hospital stay.

Key words: Hypomagnesaemia, severe acute malnutrition, hypokalemia, htpocalcemia.