Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:28:12.586Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hypercalcaemia in a Psychogeriatric Population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Glynn Harrison*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Bristol, 39/41 St Michael's Hill, Bristol BS2 8DZ

Summary

Serum calcium concentration was estimated, via a multichannel analyser, in all patients admitted to a 25 bed psychogeriatric inpatient unit and associated day hospital. Case notes of 629 consecutive admissions over a 42 month period were studied, and the prevalence of hypercalcaemia found to be 0.7 per cent, close to that estimated for the general population. Cases of hypercalcaemia with psychiatric symptoms, undetected medically because of vague and non-specific physical symptoms, do not appear in excess in a psychogeriatric population.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boonstra, C. E. & Jackson, C. E. (1971) Serum calcium: survey for hyperparathyroidism: results in 50,000 clinic patients. American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 55, 523–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensson, T., Hellström, K. & Wengle, B. (1976) Clinical and laboratory findings in subjects with hypercalcaemia. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 200, 355–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisken, R. A., Heath, D. A. & Bold, A. M. (1980) Hypercalcaemia—a hospital survey. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 196, 405–18.Google Scholar
Gatewood, J. W., Organ, C. H. & Mead, B. T. (1975) Mental changes associated with hyperparathyroidism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 129–32.Google ScholarPubMed
Heath, D. A., Wright, A. D., Barnes, A. D., Oates, G. D. & Dorricott, N. J. (1980) Surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism in the elderly. British Medical Journal, 2, 1406–8.Google Scholar
Heath, H., Hodgson, S. F. & Kennedy, M. A. (1980) Primary hyperparathyroidism. Incidence, morbidity and potential economic impact in a community. New England Journal of Medicine, 302, 189–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karpati, G. & Frame, B. (1964) Neuropsychiatric disorders in primary hyperparathyroidism. Archives of Neurology, 10, 387–97.Google Scholar
Keating, F. R., Jones, J. D. & Elveback, L. R. (1969) Distribution of serum calcium and phosphorus values in unselected ambulatory patients. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 74, 507514.Google Scholar
Leader (1980) Mild asymptomatic hyperparathyroidism. British Medical Journal, 3, 174–5.Google Scholar
Mundy, G. R., Cove, D. H. & Fisken, R. (1980) Primary hyperparathyroidism: changes in the pattern of clinical presentation. Lancet, 1, 1317–20.Google ScholarPubMed
Peterson, P. (1968) Psychiatric disorders in primary hyperparathyroidism. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 28, 1491–95.Google Scholar
Strenström, G & Heedman, P. A. (1974) Clinical findings in patients with hypercalcaemia. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 195, 473–7.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.