Estimation of true calcium absorption.

Measurements of true calcium absorption fraction in women were evaluated to see how closely calculations based on a single measurement of serum specific activity after administration of an oral calcium tracer might approximate the absorption value derived from the full, double-isotope absorption procedure. True absorption, body size, and miscible pool turnover could together explain better than 93% of the variance in serum calcium specific activity values 5 hours after a tracer-labeled test meal. Because measurement of pool turnover is not available routinely, it was dropped from the model, and a predictor equation was developed that allowed estimation of true absorption from the 5-hour serum specific activity value, height, and weight. These variables explained 90.8% of the variance in the 5-hour values and gave estimates of true absorption with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.055. This small range of uncertainty makes the procedure useful in estimating absorption efficiency for calcium therapy in routine clinical practice.