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Normative Data for Lumbar Spine Bone Mineral Content in Children: Influence of Age, Height, Weight, and Pubertal Stage

Departments of Pediatrics, Biostatistics, and Nuclear Medicine, Akademisch Ziekenhuis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Dr. J. De Schepper, Academisch Ziekenhuis Kinderen, Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090 Brussel.

ABSTRACT

In 136 normal growing children between the ages of 1 and 18 yr, bone mineral content (BMC) at the level of the lumbar spine (L2-L4) was determined with a commercial dual-photon absorptiometer. BMC was calculated as BML (BMC per unit length) and BMD (BMC per unit surface). The mean lumbar spine BML of the studied children (2.53 ± 0.86 gHA/cm) was significantly lower than the spinal mineral content of adults (4.26 ± 0.57 gHA/cm). No sex difference existed in lumbar spine BMC. BML as well as BMD were highly dependent on age, body height, and body weight. During the prepubertal years, BML and BMD increased in a fairly rectilinear pattern. During puberty, BMC increased more rapidly: 40% for BMD and 77% for BML. For the entire group, the increase in BMC with age, height, and weight was best predicted by an exponential regression line analysis.

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