Low-dose oestrogen slows bone loss

Treatment with a low dose of the hormone oestradiol, administered as a patch, reduces the rate of bone loss in older women without an increased risk of cancer. Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, USA, studied 417 women, between 60 and 80 years of age, who were randomly assigned to receive an oestradiol or a placebo patch. Treatment with the oestradiol patch was associated with a doubling of hormone levels, whereas there was no change with the use of the placebo patch. It was found that bone mineral density (BMD) of the lower spine in the treatment group increased by almost three percent, which was significantly greater than the placebo group. The hip BMD increased by 0.4 percent in the oestradiol group, but dropped by 0.8 percent in the placebo group. Endometrial hyperplasia developed in one patient in the oestradiol group and in none of those in the control group. Hence, in older postmenopausal women, treatment with one quarter of the usual dose of oestradiol improved bone mineral density (BMD) in the spine and the hip, but did not increase the build-up of cells in the lining of the uterus, which is associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer, over a two-year period. Despite the above findings, the researchers emphasised that larger, long-term trials are needed to determine other potential benefits and problems of low-dose oestradiol therapy.

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