Effects of age and serum 25-OH-vitamin D on serum parathyroid hormone levels

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Nov;97(11):3989-95. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2276. Epub 2012 Aug 29.

Abstract

Context: Several studies define optimal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) levels based on serum PTH level reaching an asymptote. However, results differ widely, ranging from 25-OHD levels of 12-44 ng/ml: many studies are constrained by small sample size.

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between serum PTH and 25-OHD levels and age in a very large reference laboratory database.

Design: This was a detailed cross-sectional analysis of 312,962 paired serum PTH and 25-OHD levels measured from July 2010 to June 2011.

Results: Median PTH levels and the proportion of patients (PTH > 65 pg/ml), from 63 successive 25-OHD frequency classes of 5000 patients, provide smooth, exceptionally well-fitted curves (R(2) = 0.994 and R(2) = 0.995, respectively) without discernible inflection points or asymptotes but with striking age dependencies. Serum 25-OHD was below the recent Institute of Medicine sufficiency guidance of 20 ng/ml in 27% (85,000) of the subjects. More importantly, 40 and 51% of subjects (serum 25-OHD <20 and 10 ng/ml, respectively) had biochemical hyperparathyroidism (PTH > 65 pg/ml).

Conclusions: This analysis, despite inevitable inherent limitations, introduces several clinical implications. First, median 25-OHD-dependent PTH levels revealed no threshold above which increasing 25-OHD fails to further suppress PTH. Second, the large number of subjects with 25-OHD deficiency and hyperparathyroidism reinforces the Third International Workshop on Asymptomatic Primary Hyper parathyroidism's recommendations to test for, and replete, vitamin D depletion before considering parathyroidectomy. Third, strong age dependency of the PTH-25-OHD relationship likely reflects the composite effects of age-related decline in calcium absorption and renal function. Finally, this unselected large population database study could guide clinical management of patients based on an age-dependent, PTH-25-OHD continuum.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Databases, Factual
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hyperparathyroidism / blood
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parathyroid Hormone / blood*
  • Reference Values
  • Vitamin D / analogs & derivatives*
  • Vitamin D / blood
  • Vitamin D Deficiency / blood

Substances

  • Parathyroid Hormone
  • Vitamin D
  • 25-hydroxyvitamin D