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Body composition and bone density reference data for Korean children, adolescents, and young adults according to age and sex: results of the 2009–2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES)

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Abstract

We established the timing of peak bone mass acquisition and body composition maturation and provide an age- and sex-specific body composition and bone density reference database using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in Korean subjects 10–25 years of age. Reference percentiles and curves were developed for bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD) of the whole body, the lumbar spine, and the femoral neck, and for fat mass (FM) and lean mass (LM) of 1969 healthy participants (982 males) who participated in the 2009–2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Additionally, bone mineral apparent density (BMAD), FM index, and LM index were calculated to adjust for body size. BMC and BMD at all skeletal sites as well as LM increased with age, reaching plateaus at 17–20 years of age in females and 20–23 years of age in males. The femoral neck was the first to reach a bone mass plateau, followed by the lumbar spine and then the whole body. Spine BMAD increased with age in both sexes, but femoral and whole-body BMAD remained the same over time. Females displayed a dramatic increase in FM during puberty, but the FM of males decreased until mid-puberty. These findings indicate that bone health and body composition should be monitored using a normal reference database until the late second to early third decade of life, when statural growth and somatic maturation are completed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who performed the KNHANES.

Conflict of interest

All authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Pediatrics, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, 431-796, Korea

      Min Jae Kang

    2. Medical Research Collaborating Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 110-769, Korea

      Hyun Sook Hong

    3. Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 110-744, Korea

      Seung Joon Chung, Young Ah Lee, Choong Ho Shin & Sei Won Yang

    Authors
    1. Min Jae Kang
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    4. Young Ah Lee
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    Correspondence to Young Ah Lee.

    Additional information

    M. J. Kang and H. S. Hong contributed equally to this work.

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    Kang, M.J., Hong, H.S., Chung, S.J. et al. Body composition and bone density reference data for Korean children, adolescents, and young adults according to age and sex: results of the 2009–2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). J Bone Miner Metab 34, 429–439 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-015-0686-y

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