Effect of long‐term administration of progestogen on post‐menopausal bone loss: result of a two‐year, controlled randomized study

Summary OBJECTIVE We determined whether a progestogen given alone to post‐menopausal women may prevent bone loss. STUDY DESIGN Thirty‐five early post‐menopausal women who had not received any form of treatment to prevent bone loss were randomly assigned to a 2‐year regimen of 500 μ g/day of a gestagen derived from 19‐norprogester‐one (Promegestone) or a placebo for 21 days out of a 28‐day treatment cycle. Bone mineral density of the spine was measured by dual photon absorptiometry. RESULTS After 2 years of treatment bone mineral density decreased significantly in the placebo group by a mean of 4.5%. In the gestagen group, the rate of bone change was significantly lower as compared to the placebo group (‐1.3%± 1.2% vs −4.5%± 2% (mean ± SEM), P & lt; 0.05). There were no changes in the biochemical bone turnover parameters in the placebo group but in the gestagen group a significant decrease was observed in the urinary calcium excretion after 2 years. CONCLUSION The results suggest that a gestagen with no androgenic action can partly counteract early post‐menopausal bone loss.