Introduction: Consideration of Epidemiologic Factors

Abstract

The most alarming trend in the past half-century has been the sharp increase in sudden deaths from ischemic heart disease (IHD), particularly in middle-aged men, and the increasing number of younger men who suddenly develop myocardial infarctions, cardiac arrhythmias, or arrests. That men in the prime of life are thus afflicted is the dramatic and tragic tip of the iceberg. Underlying these catastrophes is the widespread increase in incidence of atherosclerosis in young age groups, and in myocardial hyperexcitability and cardiomyopathy without notable coronary atherosclerosis. It is proposed that magnesium deficiency or loss may be a common etiologic factor in the increased incidence of sudden infant deaths, infantile myocardial infarction and arteriosclerosis, and the disease that becomes manifest later in life. It is also suggested that magnesium deficiency might also cause or predispose to some skeletal and renal diseases, all of which can coexist.