Effect of oestrogen replacement therapy on bone mass in post-menopausal Bangladeshi women

The female population comprises 48.66% of our total population, of which 10.30% are above the age of 49, many of whom are post-menopausal. Menopause is associated with bone-loss and its consequences. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), particularly replacement of estrogen, prevents bone-loss. We undertook this prospective case-controlled study to find out whether or not HRT is beneficial to our women. A total of 106 patients were studied, amongst them 60 were cases and 46 were controls. The women in the first group were given either conjugated equine estrogen alone (surgical menopause group) or conjugated equine estrogen plus cyclical progesterone (natural menopause group). Results showed that there was 4.29% increase in bone mineral density in women who received hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This increase was 5.23% in early and 3.56% in late menopause group. Women with natural menopause gained more bone mass (4.22%) than women with surgical menopause (3.9%). Our results also showed that women who denied HRT (controls) lost bone mass (5.26%), the loss was more in those with surgical menopause (6.24%) than those with natural menopause (4.87%). Therefore it can be concluded that post-menopausal hormone replacement therapy prevents bone-loss. However, to evaluate the beneficial effect of long-term HRT, further studies with larger samples are recommended.