Objectives:
The investigation of the effect of time and type of menopause on bone mineral density (bmd) at different ages.
Methods:
Five hundred and fourteen women, who had never received any hormonal substitution were studied in a cross-sectional design: 177 with normal (nmp), 210 with surgical (sump) and 127 with premature natural (emp) menopause. age at menopause was 49.1+/-3.9, 38.3+/-4.7 and 38.1+/-4.2 years (mean+/-1 s.d.), respectively. bmd was measured at l2-l4 vertebrae and proximal femur by the dexa method.
Results:
Emp women presented significantly lower vertebral bmd than nmp women in the 45-55-years segments (p<0.001), but did not differ from sump women. this group exhibited lower vertebral bmd than nmp between 45 and 50 years (p<0.001). regarding femoral neck, emp women exhibited lower values than sump in the 45-50 and 55-65 age segments (p<0.001) whereas sump women presented significantly higher bmd values than nmp women after 55 years of age (p<0.001). the percentages of women with vertebral bmd (t-score values) in the osteoporotic range were significantly greater in emp compared with either nmp or sump groups (both p<0.001) whereas in femoral neck lower in sump than the other two categories.
Conclusions:
Women with either natural or surgical premature menopause exhibit lower bmd of trabecular bone compared with normal menopause women at the age segments 45-55 and 45-50, respectively. however, surgical menopause women exceed normal menopause women in their mixed bone bmd values after 60 years as well as premature natural menopause women at almost all age segments.