Ck. Liam et al., HYPERCALCEMIA IN PATIENTS WITH NEWLY-DIAGNOSED TUBERCULOSIS IN MALAYSIA, The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease, 2(10), 1998, pp. 818-823
SETTING: University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. OBJECTIVE: To de
termine the incidence of hypercalcaemia in Malaysian patients with new
ly diagnosed tuberculosis (TB) before the commencement of antitubercul
osis treatment. DESIGN: A prospective study of consecutive patients wi
th newly diagnosed bacteriologically and/or histologically proven tube
rculosis in our institution from September 1994 to March 1996. RESULTS
: Of a total of 120 patients (67 males, 53 females), 68 had pulmonary
TB, nine had pulmonary and pleural TB, 18 had pleural TB without chest
radiograph evidence of lung involvement, 16 had various other forms o
f extra-pulmonary TB and nine had disseminated TB. The mean age of the
patients was 44.3 (+/-18.0) years. The mean albumin-adjusted serum ca
lcium concentration was 2.53 (+/-0.22) mmol/l. Hypercalcaemia was pres
ent in 27.5% of the patients, but only 12% of these patients showed sy
mptoms of hypercalcaemia. The type of TB and, in the case of pulmonary
TB, the radiographic extent of lung involvement, had no effect on the
serum calcium level. CONCLUSION: Hypercalcaemia is not uncommon among
Malaysian patients with newly diagnosed TB, but it is rarely symptoma
tic.