title: Serum calcium levels are associated with novel cardiometabolic risk factors in the population-based CoLaus study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Associations of serum calcium levels with the metabolic syndrome and other novel cardio-metabolic risk factors not classically included in the metabolic syndrome, such as those involved in oxidative stress, are largely unexplored. We analyzed the association of albumin-corrected serum calcium levels with conventional and non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors in a general adult population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The CoLaus study is a population-based study including Caucasians from Lausanne, Switzerland. The metabolic syndrome was defined using the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors considered included: fat mass, leptin, LDL particle size, apolipoprotein B, fasting insulin, adiponectin, ultrasensitive CRP, serum uric acid, homocysteine, and gamma-glutamyltransferase. We used adjusted standardized multivariable regression to compare the association of each cardio-metabolic risk factor with albumin-corrected serum calcium. We assessed associations of albumin-corrected serum calcium with the cumulative number of non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors. We analyzed 4,231 subjects aged 35 to 75 years. Corrected serum calcium increased with both the number of the metabolic syndrome components and the number of non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors, independently of the metabolic syndrome and BMI. Among conventional and non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors, the strongest positive associations were found for factors related to oxidative stress (uric acid, homocysteine and gamma-glutamyltransferase). Adiponectin had the strongest negative association with corrected serum calcium.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum calcium was associated with the metabolic syndrome and with non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors independently of the metabolic syndrome. Associations with uric acid, homocysteine and gamma-glutamyltransferase were the strongest. These novel findings suggest that serum calcium levels may be associated with cardiovascular risk via oxidative stress.
authors.affiliation: Community Prevention Unit, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Idris.Guessous@chuv.ch
authors.forename: Idris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Guessous
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bonny
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paccaud
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mooser
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waeber
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vollenweider
authors.forename: Murielle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bochud
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium