HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY AND CALCITONIN IN WOMEN WITH BONE MASS LOSS

Abstract

Aim: Determining if the combined use of hormone replacement therapy and calcitonin influences on bone mass loss in postmenopausal women. Design: We studied for 24 months 45 women who were 44 to 67 years old at base line, were within 1 and 12 years of menopause, and had a bone mineral density at the lumbar spine between 150 mg/cc and 80 mg/cc measured by the QBMAP systemwith a spiral CT Picker PQ-S densitometer at L2, L3, L4 and L5. 22 women were assigned to transdermal therapy with 50 (g/day of 17(-oestradiol on a intermitent cyclic regimen (28 out of 35 days) combined with 100 mg/day of micronized progesterone, and 23 were treated with the same hormone replacement therapy plus 200 UI of intranasal calcitonin. The SPSS programme was used for statiscal analysis. Results: The characteristics of the women recruited for both groups were similar. Mean mineral bone density at the lumbar spine was between 1 and 3 DS below the mean value for 30 years old normal premenopausal women. After treatment no difference statistically significant was found among the groups with and without calcitonin as for the bone mineral density at the lumbar spine. The calcitonin group felt minus pain. Conclusion: It is necessary to carry out a wider study but it seems that the 200 UI calcitonin contribute advantages when it is combined with hormone replacement therapy to decrease the bone mass loss in postmenopausal women at least at lumbar spine.