NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Low and high levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH) are associated with hypercalcemia, according to a study of 106,760 hemodialysis patients presented at the National Kidney Foundation 2012 Spring Clinical Meetings suggest.
Compared with patients who had a PTH level of 100 pg/L or higher but less than 200, those with a PTH level below 100 and those with a level of 800 or higher had a two times increased risk of hypercalcemia, researchers reported. Patients with a PTH level of 500 or more but less than 600, 600 or more but less than 700, and 700 or more but less than 800 had a 33%, 64%, and 63% increased risk, respectively.
The researchers, led by Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, MD, MPH, PhD, of the Harold Simmons Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif., analyzed data from 106,760 patients receive maintenance hemodialysis at DaVita dialysis clinics over an eight-year period. Forty-five percent of subjects were women, 59% were diabetics, and 32% were black.
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