Originally Posted by glenntaj

--may not really be high, depending on what your albumin level is.

In serum, most calcium is bound to albumin such that higher levels of albumin above a level of about 4 will skew the calcium results. In fact, there is a conversion that doctors use--every .1 reading of albumin above 4 adds about .08 in the calcium readings. By that conversion, if you had an albumin level of 4.5, let's say, your actual calcium level would be 9.6.

If there is a question, the much more accurate ionized calcium test can be ordered (ionized calcium is not bound in the same way to albumin). And parathyroid hormone levels can also be ordered to see if there is anything awry with the parathyroid feedback loop that regulated calcium. Sometimes, with high parathyroid hormone levels, there can be high calcium levels in a blood draw because the hormone is signaling the body to up it's calcium levels and this calcium is being leached from bone, which may lead to osteopeneia/osteoperosis (this is often referred to as primary hyperparathyroidism).