Urinary excretion of hydroxy-pyridinium cross-links of collagen reflects skeletal growth velocity in normal children.

Two new markers of bone resorption, the collagen cross-linking amino acids pyridinoline (PYD) and deoxypyridinoline (DPD), were measured in 24-h urine collections from 88 healthy children (45 females, 43 males; age 4 to 18 years) and 17 adults. Normal values for pediatric use were established for these parameters. Related to daily excretion of creatinine PYD and DPD were about 3 to 6 fold higher in the pediatric groups than in adults. The collagen cross-links showed a highly significant correlation to the urinary excretion of hydroxyproline (OHP): r = 0.65 for PYD and r = 0.60 for DPD (p < 0.001). Both collagen cross-links and OHP excretion related to creatinine were significantly correlated to growth velocity (r = 0.67, 0.62 and 0.51 for PYD, DPD and OHP respectively; p < 0.001 in each case). PYD and DPD may be useful for the monitoring of growth in children.