Radial bone mineral content of normal Japanese infants and prepubertal children: influence of age, sex and body size

The present study was performed to measure appendicular bone mass of Japanese infants and children, and to assess the influence of age, sex and body size on bone mass during the period of bone growth. The bone mineral content (BMC) and bone width (BW) at the distal third of the radius were measured by single photon absorptiometry (SPA) in 229 healthy Japanese infants and children aged 0–12 years, and the BMC/BW ratio was calculated to give the bone mineral density (BMD). BMC and BW increased with age until 2 years, while BMD did not obviously change until 2 years. After 2 years of age, the overall effect of aging appeared more prominent in BMC and BMD than in BW. There were no significant differences in BMC, BW and BMD between males and females aged 0–12 years. Age, body height, and body weight were strongly correlated with three parameters of bone mass (BMC, BW, and BMD). Among the three parameters of bone mass, BMC showed the highest Pearson coefficient of correlation with age (r = 0.955), body height (r = 0.957) and body weight (r = 0.966), as compared with BW and BMD. The present cross-sectional study provides normative data of the appendicular bone mass in healthy Japanese children, which may serve as a standard for assessment of bone mineralization in Japanese infants and children with medical problems.