Causes of hypercalcemia in a population of military veterans in the United States.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the various causes of hypercalcemia in a population of US veterans at the San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of medical records was performed on 212 US veterans encountered between 1998 and 2002 with serum calcium measurements between 10.5 and 10.9 mg/dL on multiple readings or 11.0 mg/dL (or greater) on any single determination. Data were collected from the clinical records for each patient and used to determine the cause of each patient's hypercalcemia. Patients undergoing hemodialysis were excluded from this study.

RESULTS

The study population consisted of 201 men (95%) and 11 women (5%), with a median age of 63 years (range, 25 to 95). Of the 212 patients, 59 (28%) had a diagnosis of malignant disease, 38 (18%) had primary hyperparathyroidism, and 114 (54%) had hypercalcemia due to a range of other causes. The mean total serum calcium concentration for all patients in this study was 11.69 mg/dL. Lung carcinoma was the most prevalent malignant condition (in 17 patients or 29% of those with cancer). A single parathyroid adenoma (in 20 of 22 patients who underwent surgical intervention) accounted for the majority of cases of primary hyperparathyroidism. Among the other identified causes of hypercalcemia, acute renal failure was the most common (in 37 patients or 17% of all patients). In 37 patients, no specific cause for the hypercalcemia was identified.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first study to focus on hypercalcemia within the US veterans population. Although the 2 most common causes of hypercalcemia, hyperparathyroidism and malignant disease, were represented in this study, the majority of cases of hypercalcemia in this population of US veterans related to other etiologic factors.