AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 242, Issue 2 82-E86, Copyright © 1982 by American Physiological Society
Rate of bone loss in postmenopausal and osteoporotic women
J. F. Aloia, P. Ross, A. Vaswani, I. Zanzi and S. H. Cohn
Regional and total bone mass were determined in three groups of women by
photon absorptiometry of the distal radius [bone mineral content BMC)] and
total body neutron activation analysis [total body calcium (TBCa)],
respectively. There were three groups of patients: group A, osteoporotic
women treated with a variety of pharmacologic agents; group B, osteoporotic
women (controls) taking only calcium supplements; and group C, normal
postmenopausal women. The mean TBCa and BMC were considerably higher in the
postmenopausal women than in the osteoporotic women. The rate of change of
bone mass in group C was -0.45%/yr and -0.9%/yr for the total skeleton and
radius, respectively. Group B had no significant rate of loss, whereas
group A demonstrated a significant increase in TBCa of 0.75%/yr with no
change in the BMC of the radius. There were no significant between-subject
correlations for the slopes (rates of change) of the two bone mineral
measurements.
