[The effect of hormone replacement therapy on bone mineral content and on fractures]

A review of five case-control- and eight prospective studies provides evidence of a decreased risk of fractures among postmenopausal women, who currently use or ever have used hormone replacement therapy. Twenty-three randomized clinically controlled studies provide evidence that hormone replacement therapy could increase bone mass or at least give a significantly higher bone mineral content than placebo or calcium in both the axial and peripheral skeleton. This is true for 1) healthy early postmenopausal 2) normal elderly women, 3) osteoporotic women, and 4) oophorectomized women. Moreover, one of these studies of osteoporotic women showed a significant decrease in the number of compression fractures of the spine after hormone replacement therapy.