Effect of hormone replacement therapy on spinal bone mineral density and T lymphocyte subsets in premature ovarian failure and Turner's syndrome

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to evaluate the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on bone metabolism and the immunological change in premature ovarian failure (POF) and Turner's syndrome. METHOD: The study was conducted on 17 POF patients, 10 Turner's syndrome patients and 35 control subjects aged 20–40 years. Bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar vertebra by dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry, serum bone metabolic parameters and T lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood were investigated. RESULT: The untreated and treated patients of POF (0.829 ± 0.077, 0.918 ± 0.094 g/cm²) and the untreated and treated patients of Turner's syndrome (0.647 ± 0.037, 0.885 ± 0.148 g/cm²) showed spinal osteopenia compared with the control group (1.039 ± 0.107 g/cm²). They showed a significantly lower percentage of CD4 and a ratio of CD4/CD8 in T lymphocytes as compared with the control group before HRT. CONCLUSION: POF and Turner's syndrome patients showed marked spinal osteopenia and abnormal T lymphocytes subsets. HRT slightly improved their BMD and immunological status.