The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare serum calcium and phosphate status in premenopausal and postmenopausal women and determine the effect of parity in postmenopausal women. The study was a cross-sectional study was carried out in a catholic mission hospital in Benin City, Nigeria. A total of 40 pre-menopausal and 280 post postmenopausal women with 40 each with parity ranging from 0 to 6 were included in this study. Following standard ethical process and laboratory procedures, the blood sample was obtained from each woman for estimation of serum calcium and phosphate concentrations. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20 and the student t-test and ANOVA carried out for statistical different at 95% confidence interval. The result showed that serum calcium (11.07 ± 1.53 mg/dl vs. 8.20 ± 0.41 mg/dl; 25.93% deficient) was significantly reduced while serum phosphate (2.39 ± 0.45 mg/dl vs. 3.71 ± 0.71 mg/dl; 55.23% surfeit) was significantly increased in postmenopausal women compared to the premenopausal women values. Compared to nulliparous postmenopausal women (8.11 ± 0.39 mg/dl), postmenopausal women in their 1st (8.49 ± 0.39 mg/dl) and 2nd (8.64 ± 0.31 mg/dl) parities have significantly higher mean serum calcium level while those in their 3rd through 6th parity have nonsignificantly lower mean serum calcium level. On the other hand, compared to the nulliparous postmenopausal women (2.66 ± 0.09 mg/dl), mean serum phosphate levels were significantly higher in irrespective of the number of parties.

The present study compared serum calcium and phosphate in premenopausal and postmenopausal women and determined the effect of parity on these parameters in postmenopausal women. The findings of the study showed that postmenopausal women have a 25.93% deficit in serum calcium but a 55.23% surfeit of serum phosphate compared with premenopausal women. Specifically, this study found that serum calcium decreases in postmenopausal women (8.20 ± 0.41 mg/dl) when compared to premenopausal women (11.07 ± 1.53 mg/dl) with a statistically significant. This finding is consistent with the study [21] who carried out a hospital-based preliminary study in postmenopausal women. In agreement with our results, a study had also reported a significant decrease (p<0.00001) in serum calcium activity in post menopausal women (8.80+0.89 mg/dl) compared to premenopausal women (10.07+0.66 mg/dl) [1]. This observation is in line considering that lack of estrogen causes bone resorption in postmenopausal women preventing the absorption and utilization of bone calcium and hence the reduced serum calcium level in these women. On serum phosphate, we found that serum level increase significantly in postmenopausal women (3.71 ± 0.71 mg/dl) compared to premenopausal women (2.39 ± 0.45 mg/dl) and this is consistent with the findings [1] who found that phosphorus levels significantly increased (p><0.001) in menopausal women (4.07+1.09 mgs/dl) compared to controls (3.72+0.56 mgs/dl). The observed effects of menopause on bone mineralization may be due to the fact [22] that declining ovarian function in menopause is accompanied by a reduction in bone mass and altered calcium metabolism. In fact, estrogen deficiency has been reported to induce calcium loss due to decreased intestinal calcium absorption and decreased renal calcium conservation [23,24]. Thus, the characteristic feature of menopause indicated via reduction in skeletal mass caused by an imbalance between bone formation and bone resorption due to loss of ovarian function.><0.001) in serum calcium activity in post-menopausal women (8.80+0.89 mg/dl) compared to premenopausal women (10.07+0.66 mg/ dl). This observation is in line considering that lack of estrogen causes bone resorption in postmenopausal women preventing the absorption and utilization of bone calcium and hence the reduced serum calcium level in these women. On serum phosphate, we found that serum level increase significantly in postmenopausal women (3.71 ± 0.71 mg/dl) compared to premenopausal women (2.39 ± 0.45 mg/dl) and this is consistent with the findings who found that phosphorus levels significantly increased (p<0.001) in menopausal women (4.07+1.09 mgs/dl) compared to controls (3.72+0.56 mgs/dl). The observed effects of menopause on bone mineralization may be due to the fact [22] that declining ovarian function in menopause is accompanied by reduction in bone mass and altered calcium metabolism. In fact, estrogen deficiency has been reported to induce calcium loss due to decreased intestinal calcium absorption and decreased renal calcium conservation [23,24]. Thus, the characteristic feature of menopause indicated via reduction in skeletal mass caused by an imbalance between bone formation and bone resorption due to loss of ovarian function><0.001) in menopausal women (4.07+1.09 mgs/dl) compared to controls (3.72+0.56 mgs/dl). The observed effects of menopause on bone mineralization may be due to the fact that declining ovarian function in menopause is accompanied by a reduction in bone mass and altered calcium metabolism. In fact, estrogen deficiency has been reported to induce calcium loss due to decreased intestinal calcium absorption and decreased renal calcium conservation. Thus, the characteristic feature of menopause indicated via the reduction in skeletal mass caused by an imbalance between bone formation and bone resorption due to loss of ovarian function.

Regards,
Robert John
Editorial Manager
Journal of Women’s Health and Reproductive Medicine