Prospective trial of oestrogen and calcium in postmenopausal women

Abstract

In a prospective trial in 72 postmenopausal women to compare the effects on bone loss of no treatment, treatment with oestrogen, and treatment with calcium the women were followed up for at least two years and examined densitometrically and morphometrically. Women in the untreated control group continued to lose bone during the two years, whereas the oestrogen-treated group lost none. Loss in the calcium-treated group was intermediate. Oestrogen appeared to inhibit endosteal bone resorption and may have stimulated subperiosteal bone apposition.

PIP: 72 of 89 postmenopausal women who started the prospective trial completed it; of these, 50 had had bilateral oophorectomy. The effects on bone loss were compared for no treatment, treatment with estrogen, or treatment with calcium. The estrogen-treated group received ethinyl estradiol 25 or 50 mcg for 3 of every 4 weeks. Calcium-treated patients took 2 calcium gluconate tablets/day, equal to 800 mg of calcium. Densitometry tests determined the mineral content of the left ulna and radius by the photon absorption technique. Morphometry was measured from radiographs of both hands. Untreated patients continued to lose bone density over the 2-year follow-up period. Those treated with estrogen did not lose bone density. Those treated with calcium had some bone loss but less than the untreated subjects. The main effect of estrogen on the metacarpals was inhibition of endosteal bone resorption with possibly stimulation of subperiosteal bone apposition.