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Pubertal timing and body mass index gain from birth to maturity in relation with femoral neck BMD and distal tibia microstructure in healthy female subjects

✍ Scribed by T. Chevalley; J. P. Bonjour; S. Ferrari; R. Rizzoli


Book ID
105865218
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Year
2011
Tongue
English
Weight
347 KB
Volume
22
Category
Article
ISSN
0937-941X

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✦ Synopsis


Summary

Childhood body mass index (BMI) gain is linked to hip fracture risk in elderly. In healthy girls, menarcheal age is inversely related to BMI gain during childhood and to femoral neck areal bone mass density (aBMD) and distal tibia structural components at maturity. This study underscores the importance of pubertal timing in age-related fragility fracture risk.

Introduction

Recent data point to a relationship between BMI change during childhood and hip fracture risk in later life. We hypothesized that BMI development is linked to variation in pubertal timing as assessed by menarcheal age (MENA) which in turn, is related to peak bone mass (PBM) and hip fracture risk in elderly.

Methods

We studied in a 124 healthy female cohort the relationship between MENA and BMI from birth to maturity, and DXA-measured femoral neck (FN) aBMD at 20.4 year. At this age, we also measured bone strength related microstructure components of distal tibia by HR-pQCT.

Results

At 20.4 ± 0.6 year, FN aBMD (mg/cm^2^), cortical thickness (μm), and trabecular density (mg HA/cm^3^) of distal tibia were inversely related to MENA (P = 0.023, 0.015, and 0.041, respectively) and positively to BMI changes from 1.0 to 12.4 years (P = 0.031, 0.089, 0.016, respectively). Significant inverse (P < 0.022 to <0.001) correlations (R = −0.21 to –0.42) were found between MENA and BMI from 7.9 to 20.4 years, but neither at birth nor at 1.0 year. Linear regression indicated that MENA Z-score was inversely related to BMI changes not only from 1.0 to 12.4 years (R = −0.35, P = 0.001), but also from 1.0 to 8.9 years, (R = −0.24, P = 0.017), i.e., before pubertal maturation.

Conclusion

BMI gain during childhood is associated with pubertal timing, which in turn, is correlated with several bone traits measured at PBM including FN aBMD, cortical thickness, and volumetric trabecular density of distal tibia. These data complement the reported relationship between childhood BMI gain and hip fracture risk in later life.