Overweight and obesity associated with increased total serum calcium level: comparison of cross-sectional data in the health screening for teaching faculty.

Obesity is a risk of cardiovascular diseases. Our previous studies revealed that serum calcium level may have influence in the blood pressure to older male subjects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between total serum calcium level and overweight and obesity subjects. In our study, overweight and obesity status and total serum calcium level were measured among 2,503 subjects, at age range of 22-94 years, who were recruited for the routine health screening in 2006. The estimated mean for age (p < 0.001), white blood cell count (p = 0.037), hemoglobin concentration (p < 0.001), red blood cell count (p < 0.001), total serum calcium level (p < 0.001), total cholesterol weight (p < 0.001), HDL-cholesterol (p < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol (p < 0.001), and triglyceride (p < 0.001) of overweight and obesity subjects were significantly higher than those of non-overweight subjects. The prevalence of overweight/obesity in subjects according to the log-transformed total serum calcium level quartiles was 16.3-30.5 %. The prevalence of overweight/obesity subjects showed trends that were significant according to the total serum calcium level quartiles (p < 0.001). The odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for overweight/obesity of the second, third, and fourth quartiles compared to the lowest quartile were 1.407 (1.050-1.883), 1.543 (1.136-2.095), and 1.360 (0.995-1.859), respectively, after adjusting for sex and age (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that a higher prevalence of adult overweight/obesity is weakly associated with higher total serum calcium level in the Chinese population.