Table 3.

Effects of calcium supplementation on bone mineral density at different sites according to sex

Site	Male			Female
	No of studies	No of participants	SMD*(95% CI)	No of studies	No of participants	SMD*(95% CI)
At end of supplementation
Femoral neck (g/cm2)	2	375	−0.05 (−0.26 to 0.15)	6	524	0.19 (0.02 to 0.37)†
Lumbar spine (g/cm2)	2	375	0.06 (−0.14 to 0.26)	7	615	0.11 (−0.05 to 0.27)
Total body (g)	1	143	0.06 (−0.27 to 0.39)	7	632	0.18 (0.02 to 0.34)†
Upper limb (g/cm2)	3	459	0.03 (−0.15 to 0.21)	6	624	0.15 (−0.01 to 0.31)
After withdrawal of supplementation
Femoral neck (g/cm2)	1	226	−0.03 (−0.29 to 0.23)	2	221	0.31 (0.04 to 0.58)†
Lumbar spine (g/cm2)	1	226	0.05 (−0.22 to 0.31)	2	221	0.04 (−0.22 to 0.31)
Upper limb (g/cm2)	2	310	0.08 (−0.32 to 0.49)	2	200	0.30 (0.02 to 0.58)†

^*SMD=standardised mean difference; an SMD of 0.3 is regarded as small.²²

^†Significant at P<0.05.