Atypical presentation of hypercalcemia in elderly

Background: Hypercalcemia is a common cl inical problem wi th an estimated pr evalence of 0.1% to 0.01% among
hospi tal ized patients and this can be ten times more in elder ly. T he a da ge, “s to nes , g r oans , b on es , an d ps y c hi a tri c
ov e rto nes ” i s o fte n us e d t o de s c ri b e t he s ym pto ms of hy p er p ar athy r oi di sm . Ho wev e r, 80% of el de rl y wi t h pri ma ry
hyperparathyroidism present wi th asymptomatic or atypical hypercalcemia. We are classical ly taught that two most
common causes of hypercalcemia are mal ignancy and primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Many case repor ts are
publ ished discussing the atypical presentation of hypercalcemia in elderly, meanwhi le, the review article
discussing hypercalcemia in elderly is since 1988 (1) which also is the gold standard upon which, symptoms of
hypercalcemia in elderly are counted on and we can see that many cases are presented in a di fferent way now.
This mini review includes case repor ts of atypical presentation of hypercalcemia in elderly aiming to establ ish a
new sight about presentation in this age group.