Association between pelvic organ prolapse and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women

Both pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and osteoporosis are age-related diseases in older aged women. Both POP and bone metabolism may be associated with collagen metabolism. Our study determined the relationship between POP and bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and femur neck in postmenopausal women. We selected 554 postmenopausal women (aged 50-79 years) and divided them into two groups (moderate to severe POP and absent to mild POP). We compared the BMDs of the lumbar spine and femur neck between the moderate to severe POP and absent to mild POP groups. Lumbar spine BMD was inversely correlated with POP severity (p = 0.001). However, after adjusting for age, time since menopause, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and vaginal delivery, the BMDs of both the lumbar spine and femur neck were not significantly different between the moderate to severe POP and absent to mild POP groups (p = 0.583 and p = 0.305, respectively). A lower BMD is associated with increased fracture risk and we postulated that women with severe POP would have an increased risk of osteoporotic fracture.