[Bone mineral density in climacteric. Identification of patients with risk of developing osteoporosis]

The bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine was determined by dual photon absorptiometry in 98 normal females: 26 premenopausal between 40 and 48 years of age and 72 unselected women 1 to 20 years after the onset of menopause, all of them attending the Menopause Clinic of the Hospital. The results were as follows: Premenopause 1.20 +/- 0.09; Postmenopause: 1.8 years: 1.16 +/- 0.10; 5.3 years: 1.10 +/- 0.12; 9.0 years: 1.06 +/- 0.12; 15.1 years: 1.01 +/- 0.11 g/cm2. The total bone loss during the period of observation was 16%. The cross-sectional data appears to fit an exponential curve with approximate diminution of 2.0%/year at the onset and 1%/year 10 years after the menopause. The individual values obtained in 45 females between 1 and 10 years postmenopause are plotted in Figure 2. Two patients with BMD below 0.9 g/cm2 were specially studied. One of them had asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism and the other overt osteoporosis with a crush fracture of a dorsal vertebra. Following the average bone loss of the group and assuming that the BMD should not fall at age 65 below the theoretical threshold for spine fractures (0.98 g/cm2) a risk curve was designed: 58% of the women were above and 42% below. This percentage is similar to the number of females who suffer osteoporotic fractures at age 70. Considering the Quetelet index (weight in kg/height in m2) the females were divided in 3 groups: above 30, between 30 and 23 and below 23.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)