Calcium levels key in kidney disease

SALEM, Va., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have linked abnormally high or low blood-calcium levels to higher risk of premature death.

Dr. Csaba Kovesdy of Salem Veterans Administration Medical Center and colleagues examined the death rates associated with various blood-calcium levels in 1,243 male U.S. veterans with moderate-to-advanced chronic kidney disease not requiring dialysis therapy.

The researchers found patients with abnormally high calcium levels had a 31 percent increased risk of dying during the study versus patients with normal levels. Low calcium levels were also linked to higher death rates -- but after much shorter periods of exposure. These patients had a 21 percent increased risk of dying.

The study, published in Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology, suggests a need for studies to determine the target range for blood calcium and how such a target should be achieved.

Kovesdy, the lead author, points out high calcium levels may be involved in longer-term processes such as the calcification of blood vessels or soft tissues, while low calcium levels may cause short-term deleterious effects such as heart rhythm abnormalities.