Adolescent pregnancy is associated with osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
OBJECTIVE
Adolescence is a critical time of life to accumulate bone for peak bone mass. Factors that may interfere with bone mass accrual during this period may increase the risk of osteoporosis. Several studies have reported that pregnancy during adolescence has detrimental effects on bone mass measurements after pregnancy. However, less is known about how adolescent pregnancy affects bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis after menopause. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between adolescent pregnancy and osteoporosis in postmenopausal Korean women.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study of 719 postmenopausal women, all of whom were enrolled in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2008. BMD was measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.


RESULTS
Postmenopausal women with histories of adolescent pregnancy had lower BMD of the total hip, femoral neck, and lumbar spine than did women without histories of adolescent pregnancy. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that postmenopausal women with history of adolescent pregnancy were at increased risk of osteoporosis (odds ratio, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.12-4.30) compared with women without history of adolescent pregnancy after adjustments for age, body mass index, marital status, education level, household income, alcohol intake, smoking history, exercise, age at menarche, age at menopause, parity, hormone therapy use, intake of energy and calcium, and vitamin D level.


CONCLUSIONS
Adolescent pregnancy may be a predictor of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Geum Joon
GJ
Cho
Jung-Ho
JH
Shin
Kyong Wook
KW
Yi
Hyun Tae
HT
Park
Tak
T
Kim
Jun Young
JY
Hur
Sun Haeng
SH
Kim
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D016387:Women's Health