title: Correlation of bone mineral density with biochemical markers in post menopausal women.
abstract: To evaluate the magnitude of bone loss in postmenopausal women and to study the effect of a selective estrogen Receptor Modulator, raloxifene, on bone loss by quantitative ultrasound of calcaneus and serum bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP). Postmenopausal women with ostesopenia/osteoporosis were assigned randomly to receive placebo (n=30) or raloxifene (60mg/d, n=30) with calcium (500mg/day) and vitamin D (250 IU/day). The bone mineral density (BMD) and BAP levels were measured at the beginning of therapy and six months later. They were subjected to statistical analysis (t test, p value) using SPSS statistical package. 70% of postmenopausal women suffered from osteopenia/osteoporosis. After raloxifene therapy, there was improvement in the BMD but this was not statistically significant (p>0.05). There was a fall in the value of serum BAP by 26.6% (p<0.05). Raloxifene has a favourable effect on bone turnover as evident from changes in BMD and a significant fall in serum BAP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Anju
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mahajan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raghunandan
keywords: Bone mineral density; Bone specific alkaline phosphatase; Dual X Ray Absorptiometry; Quantitative ultra sonography