Effect of acute and chronic administration of calcitonin on serum glucose in patients with Paget's disease of bone.

The effects of an acute injection of synthetic salmon calcitonin (sCT) and human CT (hCT) and of long term (4-month) administration of sCT on serum glucose levels were investigated in eight patients with Paget's disease of bone. The results obtained demonstrate a small but statistically significant rise in serum glucose after a single sc injection of synthetic hCT. However, the serum glucose level was not increased after 4 months of daily administration of synthetic sCT to our pagetic patients. Our results also substantiate the clinical observation that long term administration of CT does not cause clinical diabetes or significantly change fasting blood glucose concentration. Our results are also consistent with the view that the effect of CT administration on glucose metabolism is related to the secondary hypocalcemia.