Too Much Calcium In Blood May Increase Risk Of Fatal Prostate Cancer

Tag : calcium

Men who have too much calcium in their bloodstreams may have anincreased risk of fatal prostate cancer , according to a new analysis from Wake Forest University School ofMedicine and the University of Wisconsin.

“We show that men in upper range of the normal distributionof serum calcium subsequently have an almost three-fold increasedrisk 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 WakeForest University Baptist Medical Center. Such excess calcium canbe lowered, he said.
The research appears in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers& Prevention, a journal of the American Association for CancerResearch.
Co-author Halcyon G. Skinner of the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin stressed there is “littlerelationship between calcium in the diet and calcium in serum. Somen needn’t be concerned about reducing their ordinarydietary intakes of calcium.”
Schwartz and Skinner analyzed the results of 2,814 men whoparticipated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-1). Measurement of the amount ofcalcium in the bloodstreams was determined an average of 9.9 yearsbefore prostate cancer was diagnosed.
The researchers focused on the 85 cases of prostate cancer and 25prostate cancer deaths among the 2,814 men and divided the groupinto thirds, based on the serum calcium level. “Comparing menin the top third with men in the bottom third, we found asignificantly increased hazard for fatal prostate cancer.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to examineprostate cancer risk in relation to serum calcium,” Schwartzand Skinner wrote. “These results support the hypothesis thathigh serum calcium, or a factor strongly associated with it , such as high serum parathyroid hormone, increases the risk forfatal prostate cancer.”
In an interview, Schwartz said that if the relationship betweenserum calcium and prostate cancer “turns out to be causal, itsuggests a means for potentially reducing the risk of fatal diseasethrough medicines that reduce serum levels of calcium and/orparathyroid hormone.”
He added, “Both calcium and parathyroid hormone are known topromote the growth of prostate cancer cells in thelaboratory.”
Skinner said, “The take-home message is that this may offer asimple means to detect men who are at increased risk of fatalprostate cancer.”
Schwartz said serum calcium ordinarily is tightly regulated byparathyroid hormone, so there is little variation in anindividual’s serum calcium over time. “Calcium isbasically 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 yourheart.”
Too little calcium in blood , less than 7 milligrams per deciliter, can cause uncontrolledmuscular convulsions or contractions. Too much calcium, above 14milligrams per deciliter, can cause a coma. “Your bodyobviously 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 calciumlevels, ranging from 9.9 to 10.5 milligrams per deciliter.
“If confirmed, our study shows that calcium at the high endof normal is associated with a three-fold increased risk of fatalprostate cancer later in life,” Schwartz said. But unlikewell-known risk factors for prostate cancer such as age, race orfamily history, which cannot be altered, “a man’s serumcalcium levels can be.”
Several drugs already used in patients with high levels ofparathyroid hormone, such as patients with chronic kidney disease, could be used to reduce calcium and/or parathyroidhormone in the blood, he said.
Measurements of serum calcium are routinely collected and are partof most medical visits. Thus, a physician can readily determine whether a man’s serum calcium level isat 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 suggeststhat a man may reduce his risk of fatal prostate cancer by loweringserum levels of calcium and/or parathyroid hormone,” he said.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center(http://www.wfubmc.edu) is an academic health system comprised ofNorth Carolina Baptist Hospital, Brenner Children’s Hospital,Wake Forest University Physicians, and Wake Forest UniversityHealth Sciences, which operates the university’s School ofMedicine and Piedmont Triad Research Park. The system comprises1,154 acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and has been ranked as one of“America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & WorldReport since 1993. Wake Forest Baptist is ranked 32nd in the nationby America’s Top Doctors for the number of its doctorsconsidered best by their peers. The institution ranks in the topthird in funding by the National Institutes of Health and fourth inthe Southeast in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.