Effect of estriol on bone loss in postmenopausal Japanese women: a multicenter prospective open study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effects of oral estriol on the bone mineral density (BMD) and bone metabolism in postmenopausal women.


METHODS
Seventy-five natural postmenopausal women with a BMD of more than 10% below the peak bone density were treated for 50 weeks with 2 mg/day estriol (E3) cyclically and 0.8 g/day of calcium lactate continuously. BMDs at L2-L4 were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).


RESULTS
The BMD increased 1.79% (p < 0.01 vs. pretreatment) after 50 weeks, accompanied with decrease of biochemical markers of bone turnover. With regard to climacteric symptoms, Kupperman's menopausal index improved (p < 0.01 vs. pretreatment) after 5 weeks of treatment. As to the incidence of adverse events genital bleeding was observed in only 8.0% of the subjects. Endometrial histology and cytology showed neither abnormalities nor hyperplasia during and after the treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Estriol prevented postmenopausal bone loss and improved climacteric symptoms effectively with low incidence of genital bleeding.
Minaguchi
H
H
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan.
Uemura
T
T
Shirasu
K
K
Sato
A
A
Tsukikawa
S
S
Ibuki
Y
Y
Mizunuma
H
H
Aso
T
T
Koyama
T
T
Nozawa
S
S
Ohta
H
H
Ikeda
T
T
Kusuhara
K
K
Ochiai
K
K
Kato
J
J
Kinoshita
T
T
Tanaka
K
K
Minagawa
Y
Y
Kurabayashi
T
T
Fukunaga
M
M
D015519:Bone Density / Q000187:drug effects; D002979:Climacteric / Q000187:drug effects; D004964:Estriol / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies
D004964:Estriol