Smoking and hyperparathyroidism in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD)

Background and methods: Smoking is associated with hyperparathyroidism in the elderly general population and nicotine, the main component of tobacco smoke, stimulates PTH release in experimental models. Although smoking is a persisting problem in patients with endstage renal disease (ESRD), the association between smoking and PTH has never been specifically examined in these patients. We investigated the relationship between smoking and hyperparathyroidism in a well-characterized group of 161 nondiabetic dialysis patients. Results: Sixty-four patients (40%) were smokers. Heavy smokers had higher intact PTH (median: 280 pg/mL) and PTH 1-84 (188 pg/mL) than light smokers (180 pg/mL and 95 pg/mL) and nonsmokers (169 pg/ mL and 95