Objective: Previous reports have documented the observation of altered bone metabolism following COVID-19 infection and during the recovery period. Our knowledge of the relationship between osteoporosis (OP) and COVID-19 is limited. In this report, we aimed to determine whether the inflammation due to COVID-19 infection negatively effects bone health.

Material and Method: Three hundred and thirteen patients were analyzed retrospectively. Bone mineral density loss was investigated by comparing dualenergy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) lumbar spine or femur neck T scores. The patients were examined in two main groups as newly diagnosed (n =104) and known osteoporosis (n =145) patients. Patients diagnosed with osteoporosis at the time of application constituted the newly diagnosed patient group. After the exclusion criteria, patients with known osteoporosis were subdivided according to their status of having COVID-19 infection (n =61), as well as worsening or healing in T scores. Initial and final T scores were compared in each group.

Results: In the newly diagnosed osteoporosis patient group, 22.9% of the patients (n =57) had been infected with COVID-19. In the patient group with known osteoporosis, this rate was 24.5% (n =61). While there was no significant difference between previous T-score values in the group with known osteoporosis with COVID-19, there was a statistical difference in final T-scores (p <0.001). When the group of patients with known osteoporosis were classified according to worsening or healing T-scores, those with COVID-19 infection had a worse final T-score (p <0.001). In the group with healing in the T score, the final DEXA values were better in the group without COVID-19 (p =0.004).

Conclusion: COVID-19 infection may affect bone metabolism, leading to progression of bone mineral density loss.