Evaluating the effects of adolescence pregnancy on bone mineral density in postmenopausal women

Abstract

Background: Osteoporosis is one of the most important and prevalent disease in geriatrics. Adolescence (13 to 18 years old) pregnancy is believed to be associated with osteoporosis. This study aimed to investigate this hypothesis. Methods: 94 postmenopausal women (64 subjects in group 1, with history of adolescence pregnancy, and 32 subjects in group 2, with negative history) were enrolled in the study. After initial assessment and collection of data, patients underwent measuring bone density using Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and Bone Mineral Density (BMD) using T-score in L2-L4 vertebrae, neck of femur, trochanter, and hip recorded. These scores were compared between the two groups thereafter. Findings: Mean age was not significantly different between the two groups (59.89 ± 6.57 versus 60.81 ± 7.84 years, respectively). Mean menopause age (51.52 ± 2.98 versus 49.5 ± 0.87 years, respectively) and body mass index (29.83 ± 4.64 versus 27.77 ± 0.51 kg/m2, respectively) were statistically higher in group 1. Comparing BMD and T-score between the two groups showed no statistically significant difference although the amounts were higher in group 2. Conclusion: Few studies have investigated the association between adolescence pregnancy and osteoporosis and most of them have claimed that adolescence pregnancy predisposes postmenopausal osteoporosis. Although our results do not confirm previous findings, higher bone density in group 2 shows that by designing studies with larger sample size and fewer limitations, statistically significant association may be found. © 2016, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.