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Too much Calcium in blood may increase risk
of Fatal Prostate Cancer
Newswise
— Men who have too much calcium in their
bloodstreams may have an increased risk of
fatal prostate cancer, according to a new
analysis from Wake Forest University School
of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin.
“We show that men in upper
range of the normal distribution of serum
calcium subsequently have an almost
three-fold increased risk for fatal prostate
cancer,” said Gary G. Schwartz, Ph.D.,
associate professor of cancer biology and of
epidemiology and prevention at Wake Forest,
a part of Wake Forest University Baptist
Medical Center.
Such excess calcium can be
lowered, he said.
The research appears in the
September issue of Cancer Epidemiology,
Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of
the American Association for Cancer
Research.
Co-author Halcyon G. Skinner
of the School of Medicine and Public Health
at the University of Wisconsin stressed
there is “little relationship between
calcium in the diet and calcium in serum. So
men needn’t be concerned about reducing
their ordinary dietary intakes of calcium.”
Schwartz and Skinner analyzed
the results of 2,814 men who participated in
the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES-1).
Measurement of the amount of
calcium in the bloodstreams was determined
an average of 9.9 years before prostate
cancer was diagnosed.
The researchers focused on
the 85 cases of prostate cancer and 25
prostate cancer deaths among the 2,814 men
and divided the group into thirds, based on
the serum calcium level.
“Comparing men in the
top third with men in the bottom third, we
found a significantly increased hazard for
fatal prostate cancer.
“To our knowledge, this is
the first study to examine prostate cancer
risk in relation to serum calcium,” Schwartz
and Skinner wrote.
“These results support
the hypothesis that high serum calcium, or a
factor strongly associated with it, such as
high serum parathyroid hormone, increases
the risk for fatal prostate cancer.”
In an interview, Schwartz
said that if the relationship between serum
calcium and prostate cancer “turns out to be
causal, it suggests a means for potentially
reducing the risk of fatal disease through
medicines that reduce serum levels of
calcium and/or parathyroid hormone.”
He added, “Both calcium and
parathyroid hormone are known to promote the
growth of prostate cancer cells in the
laboratory."
Skinner said, “The take-home
message is that this may offer a simple
means to detect men who are at increased
risk of fatal prostate cancer.”
Schwartz said serum calcium
ordinarily is tightly regulated by
parathyroid hormone, so there is little
variation in an individual’s serum calcium
over time.
“Calcium is basically the
current that runs many of the functions of
your body. Calcium is important for not only
neuromuscular conductions, electrical
conductions, but for the conduction of
muscles in your heart.”
Too little calcium in blood,
less than 7 milligrams per deciliter, can
cause uncontrolled muscular convulsions or
contractions.
Too
much calcium, above 14 milligrams per
deciliter, can cause a coma. “Your body
obviously cannot afford to oscillate between
convulsions and coma, so the range of serum
calcium is tightly controlled.”
The upper third of NHANES-1
participants had high normal calcium levels,
ranging from 9.9 to 10.5 milligrams per
deciliter.
“If confirmed, our study
shows that calcium at the high end of normal
is associated with a three-fold increased
risk of fatal prostate cancer later in
life,” Schwartz said.
But unlike well-known risk
factors for prostate cancer such as age,
race or family history, which cannot be
altered, “a man’s serum calcium levels can
be.”
Several drugs already used in
patients with high levels of parathyroid
hormone, such as patients with chronic
kidney disease, could be used to reduce
calcium and/or parathyroid hormone in the
blood, he said.
Measurements of serum calcium
are routinely collected and are part of most
medical visits. Thus, a physician can
readily determine whether a man’s serum
calcium level is at the high end of normal.
“What is particularly
exciting – if this study is replicated, and
attempts to do so are already in progress –
is that it suggests that a man may reduce
his risk of fatal prostate cancer by
lowering serum levels of calcium and/or
parathyroid hormone,” he said.
Wake Forest University
Baptist Medical Center (www.wfubmc.edu ) is
an academic health system comprised of North
Carolina Baptist Hospital, Brenner
Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest University
Physicians, and Wake Forest University
Health Sciences, which operates the
university’s School of Medicine and Piedmont
Triad Research Park.
The system comprises 1,154
acute care, rehabilitation and long-term
care beds and has been ranked as one of
“America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News &
World Report since 1993.
Wake Forest Baptist is ranked
32nd in the nation by America’s Top Doctors
for the number of its doctors considered
best by their peers. The institution ranks
in the top third in funding by the National
Institutes of Health and fourth in the
Southeast in revenues from its licensed
intellectual property.
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