Maternal bone mineral density changes during pregnancy: A cohort study
using radiofrequency echographic multi-spectrometry (REMS) technology.
Abstract
Objective: To determine maternal bone mineral density changes
during pregnancy in healthy women using REMS. Design:
Prospective cohort study. Setting: UMAE Hospital de Gineco
Obstetricia No.4 “Luis Castelazo Ayala,” IMSS, Mexico City, Mexico.
Population: Women with singleton pregnancy. Methods:
Bone mineral density was determined in all patients once in each
trimester by REMS densitometry. Lifestyle and demographic data were
collected by interview. Main outcome measures: Bone mineral
density. Results: BMD was significantly lower in the second and
third trimesters compared with the first trimester. A wide
interindividual variation in BMD change was observed; therefore, women
were stratified into a bone loss or bone gain group according to the BMD
loss or gain rate from the first to third trimester. Binary logistic
regression showed that no calcium + vitamin D (Odds ratio [95% CI];
21.62 [4.72-99.03]; p< 0.0001) and no multivitamin use
(Odds ratio [95% CI]; 11.00 [1.34-90.11]; p=0.025) were
independent factors significantly associated with bone loss at the end
of pregnancy. According to previous reports in postmenopausal women, two
subpopulations are identified when the rate of bone loss is measured
annually; thus, the bone loss group was stratified into slow and fast
bone loser groups, considering a bone loss >3% during
pregnancy as a cutoff. Fisher’s exact test showed that gravidity was
significantly associated with fast bone loss (p=0.003).
Conclusions: Decreased BMD during pregnancy is associated with
no multivitamin use and no calcium + vitamin D use. In addition, an
association between fast bone loss and the number of pregnancies was
shown.