Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol 72, 510-514, Copyright © 1991 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine in endometriosis subjects compared to an age-similar control population

N Lane, J Baptista and C Snow-Harter
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco 94143.

The purpose of this study was to compare the lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) between women with endometriosis and age-similar controls. Eighty-five women from nine North American centers (mean age, 30.7 yr) with laparoscopically proven endometriosis (study patients) were enrolled in a study of the efficacy of nafarelin, a GnRH agonist. Fifty-two women (mean age, 32 yr) from the Palo Alto area, with regular menstrual cycles and no major medical problems, served as age-similar controls. Both groups were predominantly (greater than 92%) white. The mean BMD of the lumbar spine was 1.1 g/cm2 in both the study subjects and the controls. Study patients were 104.8% and controls were 104.8% of normal values for age. BMD was not significantly different in the two groups. BMD was not correlated with severity or time from diagnosis of endometriosis. BMD was positively correlated with weight (r = 0.28; P less than 0.05) in both groups, with height (r = 0.30; P less than 0.01) in study patients, and marginally with height (r = 0.26; P less than 0.07) in controls. This study showed no difference in BMD between endometriosis patients and age-similar controls; both groups had normal BMD.

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