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[Comparative study of bone mineralization in children and adolescents with familial short stature and a control
M I Armadá Maresca1, T Alonso Ortiz, E Viña Simón
1Departamento de Pediatría, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, Madrid.
Objective:
Our objective was to study children with familial short stature (FSS) to observe whether they develop bone mineralization similar to that seen in healthy children with an adequate height for their age and sex.
Patients And Methods:
The study included 70 FSS patients (39 boys and 31 girls) between 6 and 20 years of age and 246 control patients with the same mean age and sex of the study group. Bone mineral density was measured in the lumbar spine and forearm by performing dual energy X-ray absorptiometry using a Hologic ADR-1000.
Results:
The main difference between the FSS population and the control group was in the final adult bone mass, which was 20% less in the lumbar spine and 15% less in the forearm in the FSS group.
Conclusions:
A large difference in bone mineralization was observed among the FSS population compared to the control group during infancy and adolescence and this becomes accentuated with age or growth resulting in bone mineralization that is not optimum for facing the losses which occur during adulthood.
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