Serum Calcium and Urinary Hydroxyproline Levels in Postmenopausal Women: A Case Control Study in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh

Background : Bone resorption can be assessed by measuring plasma tartarate resistant acid phosphatase and urinary excretion of collagen degradation products: Hydroxyproline,Hydroxylysine glycosides,pyridinium crosslinks and associated peptides. We compared the excretion of Hydroxyproline in women of premenopausal age group to those of post menopausal age group and found a significant difference in the two age groups. Urinary Hydroxyproline was found to be significantly raised in postmenopausal women. This study was undertaken to diagnose at the earliest osteoporotic changes in the postmenopausal women by the easily available, reliable and cost effective colorimetric methods. Method : A total of sixty (60) postmenopausal women were taken as cases. Forty (40) premenopausal women were taken as controls. Results: Urinary Hydroxyproline levels were higher in postmenopausal women with 26.2 mg /24 hrs ± 4.67 mg/24hrs(MEAN ± SD) when compared to controls with 16.1mg/24 hrs ± 1.49 mg/24hrs(MEAN ±SD) with a statistically significant ‘p’ value of <0.01. Serum calcium levels were decreased in cases with 8.55 mg/dl ±1.02 mg/dl(MEAN±SD) compared to controls with 9.15 mg/dl ±0.642 mg/dl(MEAN±SD) with a statistically significant ‘p’ value of < 0.01. Conclusion: Increased levels of Hydroxyproline can be used as a marker of bone turn over in postmenopausal women to assess risk of developing osteoporosis. Keywords-Menopause, Hydroxyproline, Osteoporosis,Calcium.