Skeletal mass in postmenopausal women.

The techniques of photon absorptiometry of the radius and total body neutron activation analysis were used for the determination of bone mineral content and total body calcium, respectively. The subjects consisted of 71 normal women who were 1-5 yr postmenopausal and 44 osteoporotic women who had crush fractures of the dorsal spine. Both bone mineral content and total body calcium were corrected for age and body size by using the ratio of observed values to those predicted from previously derived equations. Discrimant analysis involving both osteoporotic and normal postmenopausal women resulted in the successful assignment of 81% of the 115 subjects to their correct group. Statistical analyses of the distribution of the bone mass of the postmenopausal women yielded no evidence to support the hypothesis that a subgroup exists with bone mass levels markedly different from the remainder of the women.