Removal of the ovaries may increase young women's risk of osteoporosis
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Women who need to maintain their bone mineral density can buy Canadian Actonel at a fraction of what it costs in the U.S. While osteoporosis is usually associated with older, post-menopausal women, younger women who have had their ovaries removed may also be at risk for this condition, as well as arthritis, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine.
The study team examined the patient data of more than 3,700 women, aged 40 years or older, obtained from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. About 560 underwent oophorectomy to remove the ovaries; half these women were younger than 45 at the time.
Results showed that women who lost both ovaries before age 45 had bone mineral density scores that, on average, were 3 percent lower than for women who still had their organs. About 48 percent of patients who had an oophorectomy reported having arthritis, compared to 32 percent of women with ovaries, as presented at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
These risks increased even further after excluding data on women taking hormone replacement therapy.
While this research doesn't prove causation, women who undergo oophorectomy "should be monitored closely for early signs of low-bone mineral density, so that osteoporosis can be prevented with the appropriate treatments," said researcher Kala Visvanathan, MD, MHS.
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