Bone turnover in young hypoestrogenic women on hormonal therapy.

Objective: To compare the biochemical markers of bone turnover in hypoestrogenic women who had been on the standard dosage of Premarin 0.625 mg to that of the age-matched women who were menstruating spontaneously.

Study Design: Chinese women between 25 and 40 years of age with a diagnosis of hypoestrogenism who had been on Premarin 0.625 mg daily for more than 1 year were recruited. The control group comprised age- and parity-matched women who had proven ovulation by mid-cycle serum luiteinising hormone surge. Serum osteocalcin and serum pyridinoline crosslink, markers of bone formation and resorption, respectively, were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Results: Twenty hypoestrogenic Chinese patients with a mean age of 36.2 were recruited as the study group. The same number of controls was recruited. There were no smokers in either group. The body weight, body height and body mass indices were comparable between the two groups. Both biochemical markers of bone metabolism did not differ between the two groups.

Conclusion: The average bone turn-over rate in young hypoestrogenic Chinese women on Premarin 0.625 mg/day was similar to that of normal menstruating women.