BONE-MINERAL DENSITY AND HISTORY OF ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVE USE

To examine the relationship between oral contraceptive (OC) use and bo ne mineral density (BMD), we conducted it cross-sectional study on 352 white, nonsmoking, perimenopausal women aged 40-54 years. We measured bone mineral density of lumbar vertebrae 2-4 with dual photon absorpt iometry and midradius and distal radius with single photon absorptiome try. After controlling for age, body mass, current physical activity, current calcium intake and history of breastfeeding, our analysis did not find substantial differences in BMD at any site between OC ever us ers and never users. However, OC ever users had slightly higher lumbar BMD among premenopausal women. No significant association was identif ied between recency of oc use and BMD. The results of our study sugges t that zuhen other factors are accounted for, OC use is not strongly a ssociated with BMD among perimenopausal women, although we cannot excl ude a slight beneficial effect.