Frequency of Occurrence of Hypocalcemia in Various Disorders

Objective: To determine the relative frequency of occurrence of hypocalcemia in various disorders. Study Design: It is across-sectional/ descriptive study. Settings and Duration:The study was carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi from April 1999 – April 2000. Material and Methods: In this study one hundred patients with hypocalcemia (Serum Total Calcium 2.10 mmol/L) were selected irrespective of the age and sex. The history and physical examination was carried out for each patient. The blood specimen was analyzed for serum calcium, phosphate, albumin, alkaline phosphate, magnesium, urea, creatinine, electrolytes, PTH, and blood bicarbonate according to the requirement to find the etiology. Results: The chronic renal failure was found in 49%, rickets in 21%, hypopara-thyroidism in 8%, infections in 7%, acid-base disorders 3%, maliganancies 4%, miscellaneous diseases 5%, unknown in 3%. Conclusion: Chronic renal failure and rickets are most frequently associated with hypocalcemia in our clinical setup. Hypocalcemia is also associated with other disorders like infectious diseases, acid-base disorders, maliganancies, and miscellaneous diseases which include acute pancreatitis, magnesium deficiency, aplastic anaemia, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. The lowest calcium levels were found in hypo-parathyroidism and there was significant difference in means of the calcium levels in various disorders causing hypocalcemia i.e 0.001, as analysed by the application of statistical test ANOVA.