A comparative effect of calcium with vitamin D3 and simvastatin in treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease where reduced bone strength enhances the risk of a broken bone. It is the most common cause for a broken bone among the elderly. Bones that are commonly break include the bones of the forearm, the back bones, and the hip. Until a broken bone happens  there are typically no symptoms. Bones may weaken to  a degree that a break may occur with minor stress or spontaneously. Cronic pain and a reduced ability to accomplish normal activities may occur following a broken bone.  The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of simvastatin in treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and compare it's effect with calcium plus vitamin D3 . Twenty four postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were randomly divided into two groups( each group include twelve women) , in addition to apparently healthy group include twelve postmenopausal women without osteoporosis considered as a control group .The duration of treatment was 6 months . First group was given simvastatin tablet 20mg once daily, second group was given calcium plus vitamin D3(calcium 600mg plus vitamin D3 500 I.U.) once daily .The following parameters were measured for two groups at baseline and at 6 months intervals bone mineral density(BMD) and T-score , total cholesterol , and triglyceride . There were a significant increase in BMD, T- score in group treated with simvastatin after 6 months as compared with baseline and with group treated with calcium plus vitamin D3 . Also there were a significant reduction in mean serum total cholesterol and triglyceride in group treated with simvastatin e and group treated with calcium with vitamin D3 after six months as compared with baseline(P