title: [Changes in maturation index and vaginal dryness in postmenopausal women who use or not calcitriol].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  it is known that vitamin D increases the population of superficial cells, so the objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect in Mexican postmenopausal women who were using or not oral calcitriol.
  
  
  METHODS
  postmenopausal women with vaginal dryness that received at random: calcium 500 mg orally every 24 h or calcitriol 0.25 μg every 24 h during two months. At the beginning of treatment and at two months a vaginal Pap smear was performed. The maturation index was determined and the estrogenic value was calculated. Vaginal dryness was evaluated using an analog visual scales and vaginal by the moistening of a pH test strip. Student's t test was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  23 postmenopausal women were studied and divided as follows: group I (calcium) = 11 women and group II (calcitriol) = 12 women. In the analyzed parameters only the average of superficial cells was significantly greater at the end of treatment in the calcitriol group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  calcitriol use increased the average of superficial cells in vaginal cytology, but didn't modify vaginal dryness.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Reproductiva, Hospital de Ginecología y Obstetricia 4 Luis Castelazo Ayala, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Distrito Federal, México. scarranzal@mexis.com
authors.forename: Sebastián
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carranza-Lira
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amador-Pérez
authors.forename: Ana Luz
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Macgregor-Gooch
authors.forename: Isaías
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Estrada-Moscoso
mesh_terms: D002117:Calcitriol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D014621:Vagina / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D002117:Calcitriol