BONE MINERAL-CONTENT OF WOMEN WITH UTERINE FIBROMYOMAS

Objective-To determine if the bone mineral content (BMC) of women suff ering from fibroids is different from that of the reference population . Design-Cross-sectional retrospective study. Participants-Fifty-nine women suffering from fibroids, compared to the reference population. O utcome Measures-BMC was measured at the vertebral L2-L4 site (BMC-1) a nd at the midradius site (BMC-r). Results-The patients with fibroids e xhibited no significant difference in BMC-r, but had a significantly h igher (P less than or equal to.001) BMC-1 than the reference populatio n. Conclusion-Since BMC-1 is mainly constituted by trabecular bone and BMC-r by cortical bone, and since trabecular bone is more sensitive t o estrogens than cortical bone, it is suggested that a hyper-estrogeni c state co-existing with fibroids may induce a slight protective facto r against osteoporosis of the vertebral skeleton.