Analysis of Fracture Incidence in 135 Patients With Pregnancy and Lactation Osteoporosis (PLO)

Pregnancy and lactation-related osteoporosis (PLO) is the development of osteoporosis in a premenopausal woman, usually in the third trimester of pregnancy or puerperium. The hormonal changes that allow for the maternal-fetal calcium gradient may be the underlying cause for bone loss, but it is not currently known why some women are affected so severely. Because osteoporosis does not cause symptoms until the condition is advanced, diagnosis is usually made upon the development of an osteoporotic fracture or incidentally when imaging is performed for other reasons. Spontaneous recovery is common once lactation is discontinued, as the underlying hormonal factors that caused the osteoporosis revert to the pre-pregnancy state. We used the research database TriNetX (TriNetX, LLC, Cambridge, MA) to perform a query selecting women between the ages of 10 and 50 years old who experienced an osteoporotic fracture within 12 months of pregnancy. We analyzed the cohort of patients to determine the incidence of fractures at different skeletal locations and evaluated the medications that were utilized in the patients who received treatment.