BONE MINERAL
DENSITY IN OBESE CHILDREN
Karakaidos D, Pizanias S, Kostopoulou
E, Tsolas G, Lira S, Zosi P, Karis C
Pediatric Department
General Hospital of Nikea
"St.Panteleimon", Piraeus, Greece
There are
several metabolic and hormonal disturbances in childhood obesity. Bone
mineral content increases steadily during childhood, while nutritional,
genetic and hormonal factors play an important role in the mineralization
of the skeleton during childhood and adolescence. Children with low bone mineral densities (B.M.D.) run a
higher risk of fractures and osteoporosis in adult life.
Objective: The aim of this study was
to determine whether there is a relationship between childhood obesity and
B.M.D.
Patients And Methods: The study was conducted in
20 obese children (11 boys and 9 girls) aged 5‑15 years, whose median age
was 10.9 years and body mass index 27.9¡À 3.4 kg/m2. Fourteen children were
pre‑pubertal and six pubertal.
Our control group consisted of 20 non-obese healthy children (11
boys and 9 girls). None of
them had any endocrine or neurologic disorders. Serum levels of Ca, P, ALP, calcitonin, PTH and
1,25(OH2) vitD3, were measured.
Bone ages were determined according to Greulich and Pyle. Bone mineral content was assessed
by dual energy x‑ray absorptiometry(D.X.A) in the lumbar spine at the L1‑L4
level. The values were
corrected by the surface area; scanned and expressed as B.M.D (g/m2).
Results: The mean BMD value of the
obese group was higher than that of the control group (0,653"0,162 and 0,624"0,149) but the
difference was not statistically significant (p>0,05). BMD values of
pubertal children were higher than that of pre‑pubertal in both groups-
(p<0.05). In both obese and
control groups, girls had BMD values that were significantly higher than
those of boys. The BMD values
of pubertal obese children were significantly higher than those of pubertal controls(P<0,05). No correlation between BMD values
and Ca, P, ALP, calcitonin, PTH and 1,25 (OH2) vitD3 levels was identified.
Conclusion: Results show that BMD is
not influenced by obesity in children but higher values can be observed in
obese pubertal children, possibly due to hormonal changes.