Biochemical Parameters of Bone Metabolism in the Pre-, Peri-, and Post-menopausal State

The suggestion of Albright et al.1 in 1941 that osteoporosis is associated with the post-menopausal state has been sufficiently confirmed2–5. Kinetic studies, using 47Ca and strontium, measuring the skeletal acretion rate of calcium, revealed normal values6, whereas bone resorption was increased7. Significant differences in plasma calcium and phosphate between pre-menopausal women and women after natural or artificial menopause were published by Young et al.8. Gallagher et al.9 showed a significant rise in the fasting plasma and urine calcium and phosphate levels after oophorectomy. The urinary hydroxyproline/creatinine ratio is higher in post-menopausal women than before menopause. Plasma alkaline phosphatase is known to be higher in women after the age of 5011,12.