What is hypocalcemia?

Also known as: calcium deficiency disease.

If a person doesn’t have enough calcium circulating in the blood, a not uncommon condition, it is known as hypocalcemia. Calcium has many important roles in the body, including the bones where 90% of body calcium is found, the nervous system, for smooth muscle function, and in many important cellular activities. Blood calcium level is regulated by an endocrine gland that lies in the thyroid gland called the parathyroid, which secretes a hormone called parathormone or PTH, vitamin D, liver and kidney metabolic functions, serum phosphate and magnesium levels.

Hypocalcemia is a laboratory and clinical abnormality and is seen in the premature, full term newborn baby, and in children where blood level definitions of hypocalcemia are different for each group.

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Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM