| Sub-title | |
| Authors | Y Muscat Baron R Galea M P Brincat |
| Abstract | A cross-sectional study was performed on 64 postmenopausal women who had been on long-term corticosteroids. Each woman had the skin thickness measured using high resolution ultrasound (22MHz) and the bone density measured using a DEXA Norland. These measurements were compared to a control group (n=557), a group of women who had sustained osteoporotic fractures (n=180), and a group of women on hormone replacement therapy (n=399). The longitudinal study on 38 postmenopausal women on corticosteroids was also performed over a period of two years. The crosssectional study showed that the corticosteroid therapy was associated with the thinnest skin thickness measurements mean (0.83mm). Similarly, low bone density measurements lumbar spine mean (0.81g/cm2) and left hip mean (0.71g/cm2) were obtained for this group. The longitudinal study of women on long-term corticosteroids treated with HRT over two years revealed a constant increase in skin thickness (mean 6% per year) and bone density (left hip mean 5% per year, lumbar spine mean 5% per year). Skin thickness and bone density level in women on long-term corticosteroids were comparable to that of women who had sustained osteoporotic fractures. In postmenopausal women on long-term corticosteroids, skin thickness and bone density were both decreased, but the addition of hormone replacement therapy as add back improved the situation. |
Published in: | |
| Journal | Malta Medical Journal |
| Volume | 15 Issue 1-2/suppl. 2003 |
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| Key words | skin thickness, steroids, bone density |