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The relation between calcium absorption, serum dehydroepiandrosterone, and vertebral mineral density in postmenopausal women.

Vertebral mineral density, measured by computerized axial tomography, radiocalcium absorption, serum dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA), and serum cortisol (C) were measured in 98 postmenopausal women aged 56-70 yr. On the basis of spine radiographs and fracture history, the women were classified into 49 normal subjects (mean age, 60.5 yr) and 49 with osteoporosis (mean age, 63.1 yr). Vertebral mineral density (VMD), radiocalcium absorption (alpha), serum DHA, and the ratio of DHA to cortisol (DHA/C) were all significantly lower in the osteoporotic than in the normal subjects. DHA was significantly related to C in both groups but the regression was significantly flatter in the osteoporotic than in the normal subjects. Calcium absorption did not fall significantly with age in either group. In the normal group VMD, DHA, and DHA/C fell with age but VMD was not related to alpha, DHA, or DHA/C. In the osteoporotic group, VMD did not fall significantly with age but was significantly related to alpha and DHA/C. Stepwise regression analysis showed that in the normal subjects, age was the only variable significantly related to VMD (P less than 0.05). In the osteoporotic group, calcium absorption was the main determinant of VMD, with age and DHA/C contributing much less to the variance. Discriminant function analysis showed a theoretical misclassification of 45% of cases using DHA, 39% using DHA/C, 32% using alpha, and 18% when alpha and DHA or DHA/C were both taken into account. It is concluded that malabsorption of calcium is a significant risk factor for postmenopausal osteoporosis, probably because of a secondary increase in bone resorption to maintain serum calcium. The severity of the osteoporosis is directly related to the severity of the calcium malabsorption. Low serum DHA appears to represent a further risk factor, either because of its role as estrogen precursor or (possibly) because it promotes bone formation. However, the severity of the osteoporosis was not related to the serum DHA level and only weakly to the DHA/C ratio.