urement of spinal integral bone by DPA also gave satisfactory discrimination, whereas assessment of radial compact bone did not adequately differentiate patients with mild deformities from those with definite compressions. Likewise, we found determination of spinal trabecular bone to be the most robust predictor of relative risk of definite fracture using either odds ratios or logistic regression analysis. Measurement of BMD in the peripheral cortical skeleton offered no predictive power for true vertebral fracture. We concluded that direct assessment of the spine, particularly of the trabecular portion, offered the strongest discrimination and relative risk prediction for definite osteoporotic fractures compared with milder forms of this condition. 90066279 A study of complaints and their relation to vertebral destruction in patients with osteoporosis Leidig G.; Minne H.W.; Sauer P.; Wuster C.; Wuster J.; Lojen M.; Raue F.; Ziegler R. Lkpartment of Internal Medicine I, Endocrinology and Metabolism. University of Heidelberg, Lutkenstr. 5, 6900 Heidelberg BONE MIN. 1990 8/3 (217-229) Patients with spinal osteoporosis suffer from vertebral deformation, loss of height and back pain, as well as from functional limitations and alterations of mood. So far little is known about the extent of these clinical symptoms at all and whether they are related in a predictable manner to the fractures or damages of bone structure. In the present study we investigated the relation between vertebral deformation and clinical symptoms in 70 patients with osteoporosis. Clinical data like pain, functional limitations and parameters of mood were examined by a standardized questionnaire. The numbers of vertebral fractures were determined, and the vertebral destruction was quantified using the Spine Deformity Index (SDI). The symptoms and functional limitations were graded and correlated to the SD1 and the number of fractures. Our results underline a relation between the extent of vertebral deformation and the reduction in quality of life by pain, functional limitations and alterations of mood. This relationship was absent or less evident, if the number of fractures was taken into account. Besides the difficulties concerning the grading and quantification of clinical symptoms and outcome of disease, our study revealed that there is a causal relation between the extent of vertebral destruction measured by the SD1 and the extent of these clinical parameters. 90068857 A study of combined continuous ethinyl estradiol and norethindrone acetate for postmenopausal hormone replacement Williams S.R.; Frenchek B.; Speroff T.; Speroff L. Department of Reproductive Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH AM. J. OBSTET. GYNECOL. 1990 162/2 (438-446) In a blinded, prospective, dose-response pilot study of continuous estrogen-progestin replacement therapy, 77 thin, nonsmoking, white women, who were 12 to 60 months postmenopausal and had normal medical histories, were randomly assigned to receive one of five dose combinations of daily ethinyl estradiol and norethindrone acetate (20 pg and 1.0 mg, 10 pg and 1.0 mg, 10 pg and 0.5 mg, 5 pg and 1.0 mg and 5 c(g and 0.5 mg) or conjugated estrogens 0.625 mg on days 1 to 25 and medroxyprogesterone acetate 10 mg on days 16 to 25. An additional 10 women meeting the same criteria served as a comparison group by taking calcium only. During 12 months of therapy, continuous users had significantly less vaginal bleeding and spotting than did sequential users. As compared with baseline values, bone metabolism and computerized tomographic measurements of vertebral trabecular bone density at month 12 indicated reduced bone turnover and increased density in hormone users. Endometrial biopsy specimens were negative for hyperplasia and neoplasia. The continuous ethinyl estradiol-norethindrone acetate tablet, even at the lowest doses studied, provided the same salutary effects on bone, endometrium, and postmenopausal symptoms as sequential therapy while minimizing annoying vaginal bleeding and spotting.