Abstract:
To compare the efficacy of estriol (E3) for postmenopausal and senile osteoporosis, we administered orally 1 g/day calcium lactate alone (control groups) or with 2 mg/day estriol (E3 groups) to 20 postmenopausal women aged 50–65 years and 29 elderly women aged 70–84 years, and determined their bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar vertebrae AP scan by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometory. Of 41 subjects who completed 10 months of treatment, 8 postmenopausal women and 12 elderly women in the E3 groups showed a significant (P < .05) increase in BMD, 5.59% ± 4.79% and 3.83% ± 7.90% of the respective basal values, while 10 postmenopausal women and 11 elderly women in the control groups showed a decrease in BMD, −4.02% ± 7.00% and −3.26% ± 4.60% of the respective basal values, after 10 months. On the other hand, genital bleeding as a side effect of E3 occurred in 6 elderly subjects at this dose. Moreover, decrease in serum level of corrected calcium was seen only in the elderly women receiving E3. Although a lower dosage of E3 may be recommended for elderly subjects, these observations suggest, first, that hormone replacement therapy with E3 has efficacy for involutional osteoporosis, and, second, that the bones in elderly women also maintain responsiveness to E3.
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Received: May 19, 1997 / Accepted: July 7, 1997
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Nishibe, A., Morimoto, S., Hirota, K. et al. Comparison of effects of estriol on bone mineral density of vertebrae between elderly and postmenopausal women. J Bone Miner Metab 16, 21–26 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007740050024
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007740050024