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Since the publication of the Women's Health Initiative study (Journal Watch Jul 26 2002), many postmenopausal women have stopped using hormone replacement therapy (HRT). What happens to bone-mineral density (BMD) in such women?
Researchers randomized 489 women (age range, 65 to 77; mean, 72) to receive 3-year courses of HRT, calcitriol, both treatments, or placebo. A subset of 178 women were observed for 2 more years after treatment was withdrawn, with the following results in the groups that took HRT-containing regimens:
Spine BMD increased by about 6% during 3 years on HRT; about two thirds of this gain was lost during 2 years off HRT.
Femoral-neck BMD increased by about 4% during HRT; about two thirds of the gain was lost during 2 years of…