Changes in bone mineral content in women with natural menopause during treatment with female sex hormones.

The bone mineral content was determined in eleven women with a natural menopause by X-ray spectrophotometry during treatment with a combinations of estrogens and a gestagen. During a three-year follow-up period the hormone treated women significantly increased (P less than 0.05) their mineral content by 3% a year on average, as compared with a control group. Even in patients who had passed the menopause several years previously, the increase occurred and was particularly great during the first year of treatment.