Clinical Research on the abnormalities of calcium metabolism in dementia

采用双能X线骨密度仪(DEXA，XR-26，Norland)对阿尔茨海默型、血管型、认知障碍和不明原因痴呆患者20例(男7例，年龄53~62岁，女13例，年龄54~82岁)的骨矿含量和骨密度进行了测定，其中男5例，女9例。骨密度和骨矿含量降低的程度与修订版Hasegais痴呆量表的评分之间没有明显的相关性。从这些数据判断，钙代谢异常似乎是痴呆和/或认知障碍的原因之一。我们观察了补钙(300-600 mg/d)对5例1年以上痴呆患者记忆和/或认知的改善作用。在2例患者中，补钙在3-6个月内随着腰椎和全身骨密度和含量的增加而带来明显的记忆和认知障碍的改善。这些结果表明：(1)钙不仅调节骨代谢，而且对脑功能起关键作用；(2)某些类型的痴呆是可逆的，这是潜在的病理和有效治疗的可获得性和适时应用的函数。

Bone mineral content and density were measured in 20 patients with dementia (7 men, aged 53-62,13 women, aged 54-82) of various causes such as Alzheimer type, vascular type, cognitive disorders, and unknown type by Dual Energy X-ray Absorptimetry (DEXA,XR-26, Norland).In 5 men patients out of 7 and in 9 women patients out of 13 the bone mineral density of lumbar spines and the total body mineral content were reduced below 1 standard deviation of normal range. Correlations between the degree of reduction in the bone mineral density and content and the scores on the revised version of Hasegawas Dementia Scale were not apparent.Judging from these data, abnormalities of calcium metabolism seemed to be one of the causes of dementia and/or cognitive disorders. We tried the effects of calcium supplement (300-600mg/day) on the improvement of memory and/or cognition in 5 patients with dementia over 1 year. In 2 patients calcium supplementbrought about on the marked improvement of memory and cognitive impairment within 3-6 months with the increased bone mineral density and content of the lumbar spines and the total body.These results suggested that (1) calcium not only regulates bone metabolism but also has a critical role on the brain function, (2) some types of a dementia are reversible, which is a function of the underlying pathology and of the availability and timely application of effective treatment.