Research appearing the American Heart Journal (June 2003;145(6):1108-1113) found a connection between low serum magnesium and adverse events following cardiac surgery. Low serum magnesium was defined as being less than 1.8 mmol/l in any of the eight days prior to the surgery. Of 957 patients, 12.3% of the patients with low magnesium had an adverse event following surgery compared to only 9.2% of patients with normal magnesium levels. There was also double the incidence of Q-wave myocardial infarction and all-cause mortality rate as long as one year after surgery.