Correlation between age-related serum follicle stimulating hormone levels and osteoarthritis in postmenopausal women

Objective: To study the changes of age-related serum Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) level and Xray of knee joint and the relationship between FSH and postmenopausal knee osteoarthritis in postmenopausal women. Methods: 248 postmenopausal women aged over 50 y were randomly selected from Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated with Shandong University after excluding patients with related diseases and medication history that affected bone metabolism and the that long-term used bone metabolism drugs. The levels of serum FSH, Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Estradiol (E2) were measured by radioimmunoassay, and knee joint by X-ray. The changes of serum FSH, LH, E2 with age were analysed. The difference of FSH level between patients with postmenopausal osteoarthritis and control group was compared. Results: The serum FSH and LH levels increased with age, reaching a peak around 60 y old, and then decreased with age. Serum E2 levels decreased with age after menopause. Serum FSH and LH levels in patients with knee osteoarthritis were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05), while E2 was significantly lower (P<0.05). Conclusion: This work shows the changes of FSH, LH and E2 in the postmenopausal women and indicates that FSH level may have an effect on the development of osteoarthritis.