Prevalence of hypercalcaemia in a health survey: a 14-year follow-up study of serum XXXX values.

@entity1 @entity2742 @entity460
Among 16,401 subjects attending two health screenings, in 1969 and 1971, 176 showed hypercalcaemia on both occasions, i.e. serum @entity460 values above 2.60 mmol l-1. The prevalence of hypercalcaemia increased in @entity1 with advancing age and occurred in close to 3% of those above the age of 60, whilst in @entity1 it was found in less than 0.7% in all age groups. The mean serum @entity460 concentration in @entity1 above the age of 50 was significantly higher than in @entity1 . This observation could at least partly explain why @entity2742 ( @entity2742 ) is more often diagnosed in females. Only nine @entity1 were initially referred for neck exploration. Most of the others were not even notified of the biochemical disturbance and thus it was possible to study the serum @entity460 values in an unattended cohort until follow-up after 14 years. In the hypercalcaemic @entity1 there was little or no increase in serum @entity460 during these years. In no @entity1 did the serum @entity460 level rise above 3.0 mmol l-1. Altogether, 24 @entity1 from the initial cohort were subsequently operated on for primary @entity2742 but there were only two further cases of verified @entity2742 , which developed during the follow-up period, in those who had been clearly normocalcaemic at the health surveys. In conclusion, hypercalcaemia, presumably caused by primary @entity2742 , is common but apparently develops slowly and with little risk of a progressive rise of serum @entity460 concentrations.
