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Relation of serum calcium concentration to metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease
L Lind1, S Jakobsson, H Lithell
1Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Insights
This study found that higher serum calcium levels are linked to increased cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension and high blood sugar. These findings suggest calcium plays a role in a metabolic syndrome of these conditions.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Metabolic Health
Background:
- Cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia often coexist.
- The interrelationship between these risk factors and serum calcium concentrations is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between serum calcium concentration and key cardiovascular risk factors.
- To explore the potential role of calcium in a metabolic syndrome of cardiovascular risk.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of health screening survey data from over 18,000 adult participants.
- Statistical examination of relationships between serum calcium, blood pressure, serum glucose, and serum cholesterol.
- Adjustments for covariates including age, sex, kidney function, and obesity.
Main Results:
- Positive correlations were observed between serum calcium and systolic/diastolic blood pressure, serum glucose, and serum cholesterol.
- These relationships persisted across a wide range of values, not just at the extremes.
- Interrelations between hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia were evident, independent of obesity.
Conclusions:
- Increased serum calcium concentration appears to be a common feature associated with a metabolic syndrome of cardiovascular risk factors.
- Calcium metabolism may be implicated in the development of hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, and hyperlipidemia.
Abstract:
Data from a health screening survey with over 18,000 adult participants were used to determine the relations between serum calcium concentration and the cardiovascular risk factors hypertension, hyperglycaemia, and hyperlipidaemia. Blood pressure and serum glucose and cholesterol concentrations were all positively related to each other independent of age, sex, kidney function, and obesity. Similar relations between the risk factors were found in subjects with hypertension or hyperglycaemia independent of the degree of overweight. These results suggested that there might be a metabolic syndrome of cardiovascular risk factors. Serum calcium concentration was positively related to systolic and diastolic blood pressures and serum glucose and cholesterol concentrations. Thus a common feature in the syndrome is an increased serum calcium concentration. The relations between serum calcium concentrations and the cardiovascular risk factors were not limited to the upper parts of the distribution, being seen over a wide range. Changes in calcium metabolism seem to be related to a metabolic syndrome of hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, and hyperlipidaemia.