Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : The possible existence of correlations between bone mineral content (BMC), age and serum levels of steroid hormones was investigated. It was found that dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S), oestradiol (E2) and delta-4-androstenedione (A) were correlated with BMC, whereas oestrone (E1) and testosterone (T) were not. Partial correlations after adjustment for age were significant (P < 0.05) only between E2 and DHEA-S and BMC at the L2-L4 lumbar site (BMC-1) and between DHEA-S (P < 0.01) and BMC at the midradius site (BMC(-R). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that, apart from age, E2 was the only factor to fit (P < 0.05) into the mathematical model with BMC-r as the dependent variable, while DHEA-S was the only factor to fit (P < 0.01) with BMC-r as the dependent variable . These data suggest that different hormonal influences are related to BMC at different sites, namely E2 to lumbar trabecular bone (L2-L4) and DHEA-S to cortical bone (midradius).