Assessment of bone mineral density in patients with Sheehan’s syndrome

Abstract

Introduction: The number of studies concerning bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with Sheehan's syndrome (SS) are scarce. We aimed to investigate the relationship between BMD and deficient hormones in patients with newly diagnosed SS.

Material and methods: Thirty-four patients with SS and age–gender–weight matched 22 controls were included in the study.

Results: We found osteoporosis in 61.8%, osteopenia in 32.3%, and normal dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) findings in 5.9% patients. In the control group, 68.2% of individuals were osteopenic and 31.8% of them were normal. The number of osteoporotic patients was found to be higher and BMD values were lower in the patient group compared with the control group. There was no relation of DEXA measurements with the period between the last delivery and the initial diagnosis and the estradiol levels. While there was no relation between insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and T and Z scores of femur head, the relation between the IGF-1 and L1-L4 T scores was statistically significant. There was a significant relation between the IGF-1 and L1-L4 Z scores.

Conclusions: SS patients should also be assessed in terms of osteoporosis at the time of diagnosis and then proper treatment should be initiated afterwards.

• Bone mineral density
• hypophyseal deficiency
• Sheehan’s syndrome