TIME-SERIES PREDICTION OF PLASMA-HORMONE CONCENTRATION - EVIDENCE FORDIFFERENCES IN PREDICTABILITY OF PARATHYROID-HORMONE SECRETION BETWEEN OSTEOPOROTIC PATIENTS AND NORMAL CONTROLS

Recent evidence links osteoporosis, a disease of bone remodeling, to c hanges in the dynamics of parathyroid hormone secretion, We use nonlin ear and linear time series prediction to characterize the secretory dy namics of parathyroid hormone in both healthy human subjects and patie nts with osteoporosis. Osteoporotic patients appear to lack the period s of high predictability found in normal humans. Our results may provi de an explanation for why an intermittent administration of parathyroi d hormone is effective in restoring bone mass in osteoporotic patients .