Diuretic therapy, magnesium deficiency and lipid metabolism.

Hypermagnesiuria and hypomagnesaemia are complications of prolonged therapy with loop or distal tubule diuretics. Local and circulating catecholamine levels rise in response to hypomagnesaemia and to the haemodynamic effects of diuretics. The result is an increase in the plasma lipoprotein fraction, thought to constitute a cardiovascular risk factor and partly dependent on dietary and other variables.