Clinical Research on the abnormalities of calcium metabolism in dementia

采用双能x线吸收法（DEXA,XR-26, Norland）对20例阿尔茨海默型、血管型、认知障碍和未知型痴呆患者（男性7例，年龄53 ~ 62岁，女性13例，年龄54 ~ 82岁）进行骨矿物质含量和密度测定。7例患者中男性5例，13例患者中女性9例，腰椎骨密度及全身矿物质含量均低于正常范围的1个标准差。骨密度和含量的降低程度与修订版Hasegawas痴呆量表得分之间的相关性不明显。从这些数据来看，钙代谢异常似乎是痴呆和/或认知障碍的原因之一。我们在1年的时间里对5例痴呆患者进行了补钙（300-600mg/天）对记忆和/或认知改善的影响。2例患者补钙后3 ~ 6个月内记忆及认知功能障碍均有明显改善，腰椎及全身骨密度及骨量均有所增加。这些结果表明：(1)钙不仅调节骨代谢，而且对脑功能也有重要作用；(2)某些类型的痴呆是可逆的，这与潜在病理和有效治疗的可用性和及时应用有关。

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.