Estimation of Serum Calcium Level in Peri and Postmenopausal Women: A Comparative Study.

Objectives: To estimate the calcium levels in peri menopausal and postmenopausal women and to evaluate the need for calcium supplementation among them. MethOds: A prospective study was conducted at gynecology department of a tertiary care hospital for the period of six months to estimate the serum calcium levels among them. Study populations were divided in to perimenopausal and post menopausal group. All the eligible patients were enrolled after obtaining informed consent. Study subjects from both the group were estimated for serum calcium levels to identify if they need calcium supplements. Unpaired T test was performed to find out any significant difference between both groups and pearson’s correlation cofficient (r) was applied to assess the relation between age and calcium levels. Results: During the study period, 53 of 100 patients enrolled were postmenopausal with the mean age of 60.8±10.47 years and 47 of 100 patients enrolled were perimenopausal with mean age of 44.6±3.54 years. The mean calcium level of 47 perimenopausal women was found to be 9.32±0.55 (reference level: 8.0-11.0 mg/dl) and 8.56±0.54 for 53 postmenopausal women. In post menopausal women there was highly significant drop observed in serum calcium levels with increasing age, compared to peri menopausal women. (CI: 95%, p< 0.0001, r: -0.81). cOnclusiOns: The serum concentrations of calcium in majority of our study population were within the normal range. There was a good source of dietary intake of calcium in most of the patients. The levels of calcium were lower in postmenopausal women compared to perimenopausal women. Since there is an negative effect of calcium on the bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, it can be recommended that calcium supplementation can be given as prophylaxis to prevent the long term bone loss and to decrease the risk of fracture and osteoporosis.