24-hour urinary calcium evaluation in a healthy population sample and in patients with urolithiasis

a study was designed to evaluate the normal value of 24 hr urinary calcium levels in the city of yazd. the average urinary excretion of calcium in a sample of 329 persons randomly selected was 232 mg/day, while patients with a history of recurrent urolithiasis excreted 20x mg/day. there is evidence which shows that more important factors than the amount of urinary calcium exist which influence stone formation. on the other hand the urinary excretion of calcium was related to blood pressure. these observations showed that measuring the amount of urinary calcium excretion in patients with urolithiasis provided little or no helpful information for the evaluation of these patients. nevertheless, this test may be valuable in other diseases such as hypertension.