Abstract
We investigated the effect of menopause on bone in female hemodialyzed patients. The patients were divided into two groups, pre-menopausal (PRE, n=16) and post-menopausal (POST, n=32). Mean age at menopause in the POST group was 45.1 years, i.e., 4-5 years younger than in healthy Japanese females. Bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine (L2-L4) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. BMD was negatively correlated with age in the POST group (r=-0.68), but no such correlation was observed in the PRE group. The decrease in lumbar spine BMD estimated from the slope of the linear regression line was 0.0106g/cm2/year in the POST group. We measured lumbar spine BMD 3-7 times over 2-4 years in 17 patients under 50 years of age (n=10 in the PRE group and n=7 in the POST group). The mean decrease in lumbar spine BMD was 0.0057g/cm2/year in the PRE group and 0.0339g/cm2/year in the POST group.
These findings suggest that post-menopausal osteoporosis is one of causes of bone loss in female hemodialyzed patients.
