Menopausal bone loss and estrogen replacement.

Throughout adult life the bone mineral mass of the radius is greater in males than in females. In males, it decreases after 60 years of age, while in females, it decreases earlier, at approximately 50 years, and the loss is greater. At the average age of 67 years, one half of the normal white female population has less than the normal amount of bone in the radius. Premenopausal women over the age of 50 do not show any decline of bone mineral mass, while in postmenopausal women, regardless of age, there is a loss of bone mass related to the number of years after menopause. Castrated women have significantly less bone mass than premenopausal women of the same average age. No decrease in cortical thickness of the radius was found in oophorectomized women treated with estrogens after castration. In a long-term, follow-up study, untreated postmenopausal women (after a natural or an artifical menopause) showed a significant loss of bone mass, while estrogen-treated, postmenopausal women showed no such loss. Estrogen treatment thus appears to prevent postmenopausal bone loss.