Identifying Clinical Characteristics of Hypoparathyroidism in Turkey: HIPOPARATURK-NET Study

Hypoparathyroidism is an orphan disease with ill-defined epidemiology that is subject to geographic variability. We conducted this study to assess the demographics, etiologic distribution, treatment patterns and complication frequency of patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism in Turkey. This is a retrospective, cross-sectional database study, with collaboration of 30 endocrinology centers located in 20 cities across seven geographical regions of Turkey. A total of 830 adults (mean age 49.6 ± 13.5 years; female 81.2%) with hypoparathyroidism (mean duration 9.7 ± 9.0 years) were included in the final analysis. Hypoparathyroidism was predominantly surgery-induced ( n = 686, 82.6%). The insulting surgeries was carried out mostly due to benign causes in postsurgical group (SG) ( n = 504, 73.5%) while patients in nonsurgical group (NSG) was most frequently classified as idiopathic ( n = 103, 71.5%). The treatment was highly dependent on calcium salts ( n = 771, 92.9%), calcitriol ( n = 786, 94.7%) and to a lower extent cholecalciferol use ( n = 635, 76.5%) while the rate of parathyroid hormone ( n = 2, 0.2%) use was low. Serum calcium levels were most frequently kept in the normal range (sCa 8.5–10.5 mg/dL, n = 383, 46.1%) which might be higher than desired for this patient group. NSG had a lower mean plasma PTH concentration (6.42 ± 5.53 vs. 9.09 ± 7.08 ng/l, p