Urinary deoxypyridinoline is a useful biochemical bone marker for the management of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Most medical treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis are inhibitors of bone resorption and urinary deoxypyridinoline (D-Pyr) has been shown to be a reliable indicator of bone resorption. Fifty-one healthy women were divided into four groups. Group A: premenopausal women (n = 10), Group B: postmenopausal women, no osteoporosis, not on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) (n = 14), Group C: postmenopausal women, osteoporotic, not on HRT (n = 12), and Group D: postmenopausal women on HRT (n = 15). Fasting urine was collected and sampled for D-Pyr using Pyrilinks-D Kit-(Metra Biosystems). Urinary D-Pyr was calculated in nM/creatinine mM. There was a significant difference between premenopausal and postmenopausal urinary D-Pyr showing a higher value of D-Pyr during menopause. Urinary D-Pyr results of postmenopausal women on HRT and premenopausal women showed no difference. Hence D-Pyr may be useful for the monitoring of hormonal treatment of postmenopausal bone loss.