Jm. Pouilles et al., VARIABILITY OF VERTEBRAL AND FEMORAL POSTMENOPAUSAL BONE LOSS - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY, Osteoporosis international, 6(4), 1996, pp. 320-324
The rate of postmenopausal bone loss varies considerably between indiv
iduals and it has been suggested that about 1 in 3 women loses signifi
cant amount of bone nineral in the forearm. The rate of vertebral and
femoral bone loss was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry t
hroughout two consecutive 22-month periods, in 93 healthy women two ha
d passed a natural menopause 6-60 months earlier, In all cases the bon
e changes were normally distributed, ranging from -6.9% to +2.8% per y
ear in the spine and from -7% to +4.5% per year in the femur, No signi
ficant relationship was found between the two fractional rates of bone
loss. When the women were stratified into three groups according to t
heir individual rate of bone loss, we found that only 20%-47% retained
their first classification during the second period of fellow-up. In
particular, less than 10% of the women showed a rapid rate of bone los
s throughout the study. We conclude that spontaneous vertebral and fem
oral bone loss exhibit a great variability within the first postmenopa
usal years and that only a small minority of women sustain a fast rate
of bone loss over several years, These results raise tile question as
to whether the evaluation of individual rates of bone loss at menopau
se might be useful in the identification of women at higher risk of os
teoporosis.