Low dose estrogen plus calcium have been shown to prevent spinal bone loss in early postmenopausal women and calcium plus vitamin D have been shown to prevent hip and other non-spinal fractures in women living in long-term care communities. This project is a pilot study to evaluate the use of calcium and low dose estrogen in healthy community-dwelling older women. The overall aim of this project is to study the interactive effects of calcium and estrogen on biochemical markers of bone turnover in older women over a 6 month period.
The specific aims are: 1) to examine the effect of a 12-week course of low dose estrogen or elemental calcium plus vitamin D on biochemical markers of bone turnover in women aged 70 or older; 2) to examine changes in markers of bone turnover with the addition of calcium and vitamin D to the estrogen group and of low does estrogen to the calcium group for an additional 12 weeks; 3) to examine bone turnover 12 weeks after treatment is discontinued; 4) to examine the change in parathyroid hormone levels with the various treatment combinations. The long-term goal is to find an effective, well-tolerated regimen for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in women more than 20 years past menopause. All patients are now enrolled in this study and data collection is ongoing.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 638 publications
