Low urinary calcium excretion in Bartter's syndrome.

The urinary calcium excretion has been determined in 19 patients with Bartter's syndrome and found to be significantly lower than the calcium excretion in 92 healthy subjects (1.16 +/- 0.82 vs. 4.36 +/- 2.71 mmol/24 h, p less than 0.001). There were no differences in height, weight, glomerular filtration rate, urinary sodium excretion or serum calcium concentration between the patients and the control subjects to account for the disparity in calcium excretion. In the patients, the concentrations for ionized calcium, PTH, 25-OH vitamin D and 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D were normal. A low urinary calcium excretion appears to be a characteristic feature of Bartter's syndrome. The cause remains unexplained.