Hypercalcemia may indicate cancer

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer, hypercalcemia in men was linked with an increased risk for developing cancer within 1 year of detecting elevated blood levels of calcium.

For the study, researchers from the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Bristol in Bristol, United Kingdom, sought to determine whether elevated levels of calcium in the blood could be utilized as an early screening method for the diagnosis of cancer.

The researchers identified 54,000 patients in an electronic database and analyzed their medical records to look for patients with a history of hypercalcemia that were later diagnosed with cancer. They found that men with a calcium level of 2.6 to 2.8 mmol/L (normal calcium level is 2.1 to 2.5 mmol/L) had an 11.5% increased risk of a cancer diagnosis within 1 year of identifying the elevated calcium level. Men with a calcium level greater than 2.8 mmol/L had a 28% increased risk.

Women had an increased risk for a cancer diagnosis as well, but the effect was smaller than men. Furthermore, hypercalcemiia was associated with bowel, breast, leukemia, lung, myeloma, and prostate cancer.