Serum magnesium profile in heroin addicts: according to psychiatric comorbidity.

Psychiatric comorbidity in heroin addiction can modify both the biological pattern and clinical course of this disorder. Because of the role of magnesium in neurotransmission and its specific patterns in some psychiatric conditions, such as depression and schizophrenia, we studied a sample of heroin dependent subjects, with and without psychiatric comorbidity. A sample of 162 drug addicts (123 men and 39 women, mean age 32.3 +/- 6.7) was diagnosed for the presence of psychiatric comorbidity with DSM IV criteria. They were subsequently divided in 4 subgroups: No comorbidity, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders, Personality Disorders. Differences in serum magnesium level between the groups were analysed with the Anova method, with age as covariate. Results show that serum Mg++ levels are significantly higher in patients with heroin dependence and personality disorders compared to patients with depression comorbidity and without comorbidity. Psychiatric codiagnosis significantly modifies Mg++ levels in this drug dependent sample. Gender modifies Mg levels in no comorbid subjects so that females show significantly lower Mg++ levels compared to males. The presence of psychiatric comorbidity abates this difference.