Abstract
Summary
Growth in early life may predict adult bone health. Our data showed that greater height and body mass index (BMI) gain in utero and infancy are associated with higher peak bone mass, and greater BMI gain in childhood/adolescence with higher peak bone density. These associations are mediated by attained adult height and BMI.
Introduction
To study the relationship of height and BMI during childhood with adult bone mineral content (BMC), areal density (aBMD) and apparent density (BMAD, estimated volumetric density).
Methods
Participants comprised 565 men and women aged 33–39 years from the New Delhi Birth Cohort, India, whose weight and height were recorded at birth and annually during infancy (0–2 years), childhood (2–11 years) and adolescence (11 years–adult). Lumbar spine, femoral neck and forearm BMC and aBMD were measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry; lumbar spine and femoral neck BMAD were calculated.
Results
Birth length, and height and height gain during infancy, childhood and adolescence were positively correlated with adult BMC (p≤0.01 all sites except birth length with femoral neck). Correlations increased with height from birth to 6 years, then remained constant for later height measurements. There were no associations with BMAD. BMI at birth, and during childhood and adolescence was also positively correlated with BMC (p < 0.01 all sites). BMI at 11 years, and BMI gain in childhood and adolescence, were correlated with aBMD and BMAD (p < 0.001 for all); these correlations strengthened with increasing age of BMI measurement. The associations with height and BMI in early life became non-significant after adjustment for adult height and BMI.
Conclusions
Greater skeletal growth and BMI gain in utero and during infancy are associated with higher peak BMC, and greater BMI gain in childhood and adolescence is associated with higher peak aBMD and BMAD. These associations are mediated by the attainment of adult height and BMI, respectively.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the participants, and field and laboratory staff. We acknowledge Dr. Shanti Ghosh and I.M. Moriyama, who initiated the cohort study with Dr. Bhargava, Vinod Kapani for technical input, Rajeshwari Verma and Bhaskar Singh for maintaining liaison with the cohort, Dileep Gupta, data manager and statistician at the Sitaram Bhartiya Institute for Science and Research, and Sushil Chugh and Jose Augustine, DXA technicians at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The original study was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institutes of Health (USA). The current study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust UK, the Medical Research Council UK, the NIHR Nutrition and Metabolism Biomedical Research Unit, University of Southampton and the NIHR Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, University of Oxford.
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Tandon, N., Fall, C.H.D., Osmond, C. et al. Growth from birth to adulthood and peak bone mass and density data from the New Delhi Birth Cohort. Osteoporos Int 23, 2447–2459 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-011-1857-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-011-1857-x