Parathyroid Hormone Levels in Healthy Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Background: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is important in the assessment of calcium metabolism disorders. However, there are few data regarding PTH levels in childhood and adolescence.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine PTH levels in a large group of healthy children and adolescents.

Patients and methods: We retrospectively evaluated PTH levels in 1,580 healthy Caucasian children and adolescents (849 females, 731 males, aged 2.0-17.2 years) with 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels ≥ 30 ng/ml. All subjects with genetic, endocrine, hepatic, renal, or other known diseases were excluded.

Results: The serum intact PTH concentration (median and inter-quartile range) was 23.00 (15.00-31.60) pg/ml. In our population, the mean 25(OH)D value was 34.27 ± 4.12 ng/ml. The median PTH concentration in boys was 23.00 (15.00-32.00) pg/ml, whereas in girls it was 23.10 (15.00-31.10) pg/ml. However, in girls, PTH levels significantly increased in the age group of 8.1-10.0 years compared to the age group of 2.1-4.0 years (p < 0.0001), whereas in boys it significantly increased in the age groups of 10.1-12.0 years (p < 0.0001) and 12.1-14.0 years (p < 0.0001), leading to the hypothesis of a relationship between PTH level and pubertal and bone growth spurts.

Conclusions: PTH levels in healthy children and adolescents covered a narrower range than the adult values. Obtaining reference values of PTH in childhood and adolescence could aid in the estimation of appropriate values of bone metabolites.