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Low-Dose Estrogen May Reduce Bone Loss

Wed, 01/10/2001 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
Description: 

A low dose of estrogen was as effective in reducing bone turnover as higher doses when given to a group of healthy women 65 years and older, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. This is the first controlled clinical trial to directly compare the effects of different doses of estrogen on bone turnover in older women.

Bone turnover refers to the bone remodeling cycle in which new bone is formed as older bone is dissolved. Osteoporosis develops when more bone is dissolved than is formed, weakening the bones and making them prone to fracture. The risk for developing osteoporosis increases with age.

Decreases in bone turnover among the women who took 0.25 mg of estradiol, a form of estrogen, was quite similar to the decrease among the women who took 1.0 mg of estradiol, according to lead author Karen Prestwood, M.D., of the University of Connecticut (UCONN). The 1.0 mg estrogen dose that women conventionally are prescribed as part of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) to treat symptoms of menopause, reduce bone turnover, and treat osteoporosis, sometimes results in side effects such as breast tenderness, fluid retention, headaches, and bloating. The group taking 0.25 mg estradiol had no more side effects than the placebo group, according to the study, conducted at UCONN?s Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

A low dose of estrogen was as effective in reducing bone turnover as higher doses when given to a group of healthy women 65 years and older, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. This is the first controlled clinical trial to directly compare the effects of different doses of estrogen on bone turnover in older women.

Bone turnover refers to the bone remodeling cycle in which new bone is formed as older bone is dissolved. Osteoporosis develops when more bone is dissolved than is formed, weakening the bones and making them prone to fracture. The risk for developing osteoporosis increases with age.

Decreases in bone turnover among the women who took 0.25 mg of estradiol, a form of estrogen, was quite similar to the decrease among the women who took 1.0 mg of estradiol, according to lead author Karen Prestwood, M.D., of the University of Connecticut (UCONN). The 1.0 mg estrogen dose that women conventionally are prescribed as part of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) to treat symptoms of menopause, reduce bone turnover, and treat osteoporosis, sometimes results in side effects such as breast tenderness, fluid retention, headaches, and bloating. The group taking 0.25 mg estradiol had no more side effects than the placebo group, according to the study, conducted at UCONN?s Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.