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Ultrasonographic bone characteristics during normal pregnancy: longitudinal and cross-sectional evaluation
M Gambacciani1, A Spinetti, R Gallo
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Piero Fioretti, University of Pisa, Italy.
Objective:
We evaluated the pattern of bone density during pregnancy by radiation-free ultrasonographic densitometry.
Study Design:
In a longitudinal study we measured bone mineral density in a group of 10 normal primiparous women, from the fourteenth to the thirty-eighth weeks of pregnancy. In a cross-sectional study bone mineral density was determined in a group of 85 normal primiparous women, in different weeks of pregnancy.
Results:
In the longitudinal study ultrasonographic bone density was stable in the first part of pregnancy, whereas a significant (p < 0.05) decrease was evidenced during the third trimester. A negative correlation between bone density and weeks of pregnancy (p < 0.0001) was evidenced in the cross-sectional study.
Conclusion:
During physiologic pregnancy the calcium mobilization from the maternal bone stores to accomplish the fetal needs can cause a significant decrease in maternal bone density in the last trimester of gestation.