title: Prevalence of hypocalcemia in children examined for serum calcium in Sana'a, Yemen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of hypocalcemia in children examined for serum calcium.
  
  
  METHODS
  A record-based study was carried out in the Specialized Pediatric Center in Sana'a city, Yemen during the 4 year period 1999 to 2003. Out of 90600 patients seen for different causes, 310 (0.34%) were subjected to serum calcium level examination. Data regarding age and gender were also collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age of the patients was 5 months, with minimum age of one day and maximum age of 4 years. Prevalence of hypocalcemia among children examined for serum calcium was 58%, 60% of them were males and 40% were females. Age group of 0-1 months constituted 17.8% while the age group of 1-3 months constituted 17.2%. Patients with serum calcium level between 4-6 mg constituted 27.8% and less than 7.5 mg were 72.2%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of hypocalcemia in children examined for serum calcium was high. Males were more affected than females and was more in neonates followed by age 1-3 months then age 3-6 months.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen.
authors.forename: Mabrook A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: BinMohanna
authors.forename: Yahia A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Raja'a
authors.forename: Ghassan A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Saif
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006996:Hypocalcemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015006:Yemen / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium