What is the reason for ambiguous results of magnesium levels in medicine?

Objective: In recent years, disturbance in magnesium levels among patients has been increasingly observed as an important clinical issue. Research focused on magnesium supplementation as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy of medical disorders has commenced. Materials and methods: In this short communication we analyzed 3,400 publications concerning the level of magnesium in various disease entities. Results: Over 90% of the authors measured extracellular magnesium levels, i.e., in blood serum or plasma. Conclusion: The results regarding magnesium levels in specific disease entities very often turned out to be ambiguous. Unfortunately, there are few publications regarding the measurement of the ionized magnesium fraction in medical patients.