ALTERED PARATHYROID-GLAND FUNCTION IN SEVERELY IMMUNOCOMPROMISED PATIENTS INFECTED WITH HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS

Several endocrine functions have been found disturbed in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). However, no information is available on parathyroid function in these patients. Six patients wit h AIDS and 10 healthy volunteers underwent an EDTA infusion to induce hypocalcemia and stimulate PTH secretion. A group of 6 severely ill pa tients with malignancies was studied at baseline and served as additio nal controls for the effect of a severe disease per se. Baseline value s showed that mean serum intact PTH concentration was lower in patient s infected with the human immunodeficiency virus than in healthy volun teers (P < 0.04) as well as in patients with malignancies (P = 0.004). Whole blood calcium also tended to be lower in patients with the huma n immunodeficiency virus than in both control groups, the difference r eaching the limit of statistical significance for the healthy controls only (P < 0.04). Mean serum magnesium, 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 1,25-d ihydroxyvitamin D concentrations were similar in both groups. Througho ut the entire EDTA stimulation procedure, i.e. at any blood calcium co ncentration, serum intact PTH concentration remained lower in patients with AIDS than in healthy control subjects (P < 0.04, analysis of var iance for repeated measurements). Basal and maximal secretion of PTH i s reduced in patients with AIDS. The mechanisms underlying this findin g remain speculative.