Normative Data for Bone Mass in Healthy Term Infants from Birth to 1 Year of Age

Abstract

For over 2 decades, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) has been the gold standard for estimating bone mineral density (BMD) and facture risk in adults. More recently DXA has been used to evaluate BMD in pediatrics. However, BMD is usually assessed against reference data for which none currently exists in infancy. A prospective study was conducted to assess bone mass of term infants (37 to 42 weeks of gestation), weight appropriate for gestational age, and born to healthy mothers. The group consisted of 33 boys and 26 girls recruited from the Winnipeg Health Sciences Center (Manitoba, Canada). Whole body (WB) as well as regional sites of the lumbar spine (LS 1–4) and femur was measured using DXA (QDR 4500A, Hologic Inc.) providing bone mineral content (BMC) for all sites and BMD for spine. During the year, WB BMC increased by 200% (76.0 ± 14.2 versus 227.0 ± 29.7 g), spine BMC by 130% (2.35 ± 0.42 versus 5.37 ± 1.02 g), and femur BMC by 190% (2.94 ± 0.54 versus 8.50 ± 1.84 g). Spine BMD increased by 14% (0.266 ± 0.044 versus 0.304 ± 0.044 g/cm2) during the year. This data, representing the accretion of bone mass during the first year of life, is based on a representative sample of infants and will aid in the interpretation of diagnostic DXA scans by researchers and health professionals.

Effect of Different Dosages of Oral Vitamin D Supplementation on Vitamin D Status in Healthy, Breastfed Infants

“…Infants were scanned in array mode to obtain BMC of the whole body, lumbar spine vertebrae 1 to 4, and whole femur while sleeping (nonsedated) as previously described. 10,22 Change in BMC was calculated between visits. The co-efficient of variation was 1% for BMC and 0.3% for BMD using a spine phantom (Hologic phantom No.…”

Predictors of vitamin D supplementation amongst infants in Ireland throughout the first year of life

“…[IOM] 2010). Across the lifespan, the most accelerated rates of growth and bone mineral accretion occur in infancy (Gallo et al 2012), with evidence indicating that maximising bone accretion during this time benefits bone health at later stages of the life cycle (Cooper et al 2002;Gallo et al 2012).…”

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts

“…However, there are limitations to when this method should be applied in forensic contexts. For example, research has shown that the relationship between bone volume and bone area in juveniles varies between growth stages 12,92 . Ensuring that the proper methodology and normative data is being used (i.e., age-matched normative data) is imperative.…”