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16.12: Calcium and phos­phorus in serum and urine (18b.14)

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    117084
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    Many studies of vitamin D status have included the measure­ment of calcium and phos­phorus con­cent­rations in serum or urine. The measure­ments are most useful if combined with the measure­ments of serum 25(OH)D and PTH con­cent­rations. In vitamin D de­fi­ciency in infants and chil­dren, the serum calcium and phos­phorus levels are usually red­uced. For exam­ple, sig­nif­icantly lower mean serum calcium con­cent­rations were repor­ted in French neonates with serum 25(OH)D con­cent­rations < 30nmol/L and ele­vated PTH con­cent­rations, in com­par­ison with individuals with normal values for these bio­chem­ical parameters (Zeghoud et al., 1997). Unlike total serum calcium alone, the exist­ence of such a triad of bio­chem­ical dis­turb­ances strongly indicates vitamin D de­fi­ciency.

    Serum calcium is also used to identify possible vitamin D intoxication. In such cases, con­cent­rations of serum 25(OH)D and serum calcium are ele­vated and provide addit­ional evi­dence for hypervitaminosis D.

    The res­ponse of urin­ary calcium and phos­phorus levels to changes in vitamin D status varies, as ex­cretion of these minerals is also affected by diet­ary intakes. Early osteo­malacia can be detected as a de­crease in urin­ary calcium to creat­in­ine ratio (Uday and Högler, 2019). Changes in urin­ary calcium and phos­phorus con­cent­rations, however, are not specific for vitamin D status. Details of the measure­ment of calcium and phos­phorus in serum and urine are given in Chapter 23.


    This page titled 16.12: Calcium and phos­phorus in serum and urine (18b.14) is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Rosalind S. Gibson via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.