Background: Osteoporosis affects elderly patients of both sexes. It is characterized by an increased fracture risk due to defective remodeling of the bone microarchitecture. It affects in particular postmenopausal women due to their decreased levels of estrogen. Preclinical studies with animals demonstrated that loss of estrogen had a negative effect on bone healing and that increasing the estrogen level led to a better bone healing. We asked whether increasing the estrogen level in menopausal patients has a beneficial effect on bone mineral density (BMD) during callus formation after a bone fracture.
Methods: To investigate whether estrogen has a beneficial effect on callus BMD of postmenopausal patients, we performed a prospective double-blinded randomized study with 76 patients suffering from distal radius fractures. A total of 31 patients (71.13 years ± 11.99) were treated with estrogen and 45 patients (75.62 years ± 10.47) served as untreated controls. Calculated bone density as well as cortical bone density were determined by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) prior to and six weeks after the surgery. Comparative measurements were performed at the fractured site and at the corresponding position of the non-fractured arm.
Results: We found that unlike with preclinical models, bone fracture healing of human patients was not improved in response to estrogen treatment. Furthermore, we observed no dependence between age-dependent bone tissue loss and constant callus formation in the patients.
Conclusions: Transdermally applied estrogen to postmenopausal women, which results in estrogen levels similar to the systemic level of premenopausal women, has no significant beneficial effect on callus BMD as measured by pQCT, as recently shown in preclinical animal models.
Trial registration: Low dose estrogen has no significant effect on bone fracture healing measured by pQCT in postmenopausal women, DRKS00019858. Registered 25th November 2019 - Retrospectively registered. Trial registration number DRKS00019858.

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Posted 14 Oct, 2020
On 09 Oct, 2020
On 05 Oct, 2020
On 04 Oct, 2020
On 04 Oct, 2020
Invitations sent on 05 Aug, 2020
On 05 Aug, 2020
Received 05 Aug, 2020
On 03 Aug, 2020
On 02 Aug, 2020
On 02 Aug, 2020
On 22 Jul, 2020
Received 21 Jul, 2020
Received 13 Jul, 2020
On 01 Jul, 2020
On 29 Jun, 2020
Received 09 Jun, 2020
On 08 Jun, 2020
Invitations sent on 03 Jun, 2020
On 22 May, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
Posted 14 Oct, 2020
On 09 Oct, 2020
On 05 Oct, 2020
On 04 Oct, 2020
On 04 Oct, 2020
Invitations sent on 05 Aug, 2020
On 05 Aug, 2020
Received 05 Aug, 2020
On 03 Aug, 2020
On 02 Aug, 2020
On 02 Aug, 2020
On 22 Jul, 2020
Received 21 Jul, 2020
Received 13 Jul, 2020
On 01 Jul, 2020
On 29 Jun, 2020
Received 09 Jun, 2020
On 08 Jun, 2020
Invitations sent on 03 Jun, 2020
On 22 May, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
On 21 May, 2020
Background: Osteoporosis affects elderly patients of both sexes. It is characterized by an increased fracture risk due to defective remodeling of the bone microarchitecture. It affects in particular postmenopausal women due to their decreased levels of estrogen. Preclinical studies with animals demonstrated that loss of estrogen had a negative effect on bone healing and that increasing the estrogen level led to a better bone healing. We asked whether increasing the estrogen level in menopausal patients has a beneficial effect on bone mineral density (BMD) during callus formation after a bone fracture.
Methods: To investigate whether estrogen has a beneficial effect on callus BMD of postmenopausal patients, we performed a prospective double-blinded randomized study with 76 patients suffering from distal radius fractures. A total of 31 patients (71.13 years ± 11.99) were treated with estrogen and 45 patients (75.62 years ± 10.47) served as untreated controls. Calculated bone density as well as cortical bone density were determined by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) prior to and six weeks after the surgery. Comparative measurements were performed at the fractured site and at the corresponding position of the non-fractured arm.
Results: We found that unlike with preclinical models, bone fracture healing of human patients was not improved in response to estrogen treatment. Furthermore, we observed no dependence between age-dependent bone tissue loss and constant callus formation in the patients.
Conclusions: Transdermally applied estrogen to postmenopausal women, which results in estrogen levels similar to the systemic level of premenopausal women, has no significant beneficial effect on callus BMD as measured by pQCT, as recently shown in preclinical animal models.
Trial registration: Low dose estrogen has no significant effect on bone fracture healing measured by pQCT in postmenopausal women, DRKS00019858. Registered 25th November 2019 - Retrospectively registered. Trial registration number DRKS00019858.

Figure 1
Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
Loading...