post-covid-19 bone mineral density and its association with demographic and clinical characteristics: a cross-sectional study

Background: neuromuscular and rheumatologic complications following coronavirus disease (covid-19) have been widely studied, but its impact on bone health remains unclear. objectives: to determine the bone mineral density (bmd) and its correlation with demographic and clinical factors in post-covid-19 patients. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted in urmia between july and december 2023. a total of 164 post-covid-19 patients were recruited through convenience sampling from the bone densitometry center at imam khomeini hospital. data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and a standardized clinical checklist. a validated checklist was employed, and all densitometry results were interpreted by a single pulmonary subspecialist to minimize bias. statistical analysis was performed using spss v22.0, employing descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, anova, and tukey’s post-hoc test. results: most patients were women (89.2%), with a mean age of 58.9 ± 11.3 years and a mean body mass index (bmi) of 29.5 ± 4.6 kg/m². the majority (81.6%) were treated as outpatients; only 5.1% of hospitalized patients required icu admission. osteoporosis prevalence was 5.1% in the femoral neck, 29.7% in the lumbar spine, and 32.3% in the radius. no significant associations were found between bmd and corticosteroid therapy, hospitalization, icu admission, comorbidities, or gender (all p > 0.05). however, patients with osteoporosis were significantly older (68.7 ± 8.7 years) and had a lower bmi (27.1 ± 4.6) compared to those with osteopenia or normal bone density. anova confirmed significant differences in age (p < 0.001) and bmi (p = 0.011) among these groups, with post-hoc tests indicating that osteoporosis was associated with higher age and lower bmi. conclusions: older age and lower body weight were associated with a higher risk of osteoporosis among post-covid-19 patients. clinicians should monitor bone health in high-risk groups to prevent long-term complications. future research should use larger samples, longer follow-up periods, and control for medication effects. this study did not receive any specific funding.