[Changes in maturation index and vaginal dryness in postmenopausal women who use or not calcitriol]. / Índice de maduración y sequedad vaginal en la posmenopausia con uso de calcio o calcitriol.

BACKGROUND: it is known that vitamin D increases the population of superficial cells, so the objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect in Mexican postmenopausal women who were using or not oral calcitriol. METHODS: postmenopausal women with vaginal dryness that received at random: calcium 500 mg orally every 24 h or calcitriol 0.25 µg every 24 h during two months. At the beginning of treatment and at two months a vaginal Pap smear was performed. The maturation index was determined and the estrogenic value was calculated. Vaginal dryness was evaluated using an analog visual scales and vaginal by the moistening of a pH test strip. Student's t test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: 23 postmenopausal women were studied and divided as follows: group I (calcium) = 11 women and group II (calcitriol) = 12 women. In the analyzed parameters only the average of superficial cells was significantly greater at the end of treatment in the calcitriol group. CONCLUSION: calcitriol use increased the average of superficial cells in vaginal cytology, but didn't modify vaginal dryness.