Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Jan;56(1):17-21.
doi: 10.1136/ard.56.1.17.

Growth in infancy and bone mass in later life

C Cooper  1 , C Fall, P Egger, R Hobbs, R Eastell, D Barker
Affiliations

Growth in infancy and bone mass in later life

C Cooper et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 1997 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between weight in infancy and bone mass during the seventh decade of life in a population based cohort for which detailed birth and childhood records were preserved.

Methods: 189 women and 224 men who were aged 63-73 years and were born in East Hertfordshire underwent bone densitometry by dual energy x ray absorptiometry. Measurements were also made of serum osteocalcin and urinary excretion of type 1 collagen cross linked N-telopeptide.

Results: There were statistically significant associations between weight at 1 year and bone mineral content (but not bone mineral density) at the spine (P < 0.02) and femoral neck (P < 0.01) among women, and spine (P < 0.03) among men. Although serum osteocalcin was negatively correlated with bone mineral density at both sites among men and women, infant weight was not significantly associated with either biochemical marker of bone turnover.

Conclusions: These data confirm our previous observations that growth in infancy is associated with skeletal size in adulthood, and suggest that skeletal growth may be programmed during intrauterine or early postnatal life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Weight at 1 year and bone mineral content of the lumbar spine (LS-BMC) and femoral neck (FN-BMC) among 224 men and 189 women born in Hertfordshire during 1920-1930.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1989 Dec;69(6):1160-5 - PubMed
    1. J Bone Miner Res. 1994 Jul;9(7):1065-70 - PubMed
    1. Osteoporos Int. 1993 Jan;3(1):1-2 - PubMed
    1. Lancet. 1993 Apr 10;341(8850):938-41 - PubMed
    1. J Clin Invest. 1983 May;71(5):1316-21 - PubMed

Publication types