The relationship of bone mineral density and anthropometric variables in healthy male and female children.

The relationships among bone mineral measurements at hip, wrist, and spine sites and anthropometric measurements which provided estimates of frame size, skinfold thickness, and muscularity were examined in a population of 140 children. The average age of the children at the time of measurement was 9.5 +/- 2.5 years and all subjects were white. In this study population, the anthropometric measurements were generally highly intercorrelated. Univariate correlations among bone mass and density variables at the different sites were also high, especially in the female children. Model fitting procedures were employed to separate the effects of age, frame size, and fatness on the bone mass measures. Resulting models confirmed previous results which suggest that height is the best predictor of bone mass in children. As expected, models for bone mineral content and bone mineral density were similar. Models for hips and wrist sites were also similar in including an estimate of frame size, while in those for the spine hip circumference explained a greater percentage of the variance. It appears that there are several identifiable characteristics among the anthropometric variables which appear to exert differential effects on skeletal development in children.