Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism · Published 2025-06-03 · DOI 10.6065/apem.2448232.116
Purpose Normative values of bone mass, bone turnover markers (BTMs) and muscle-bone unit (MBU) among healthy Asian children are needed to enable accurate skeletal assessment. This cross-sectional study characterizes the bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), BTMs and MBU of 243 Malaysian preadolescent children aged 9–11 years. Methods The total body BMD (TBBMD), total body BMC (TBBMC), lumbar spine BMD, lumbar spine BMC, and body composition were assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Total and regional MBU were calculated by dividing BMC by lean body mass. Serum BTMs (c-terminal telopeptide 1, procollagen type 1 N propeptide, bone alkaline phosphate, osteocalcin) and serum intact parathyroid hormone were measured. Results Based on the Asian reference population, 97.5% of participants had TBBMD z-scores above -1 standard deviation (SD), 2.5% were at risk for low TBBMD for age (-1.9 to -1.0 SD) and no one had low TBBMD for age (<-2.0 SD). Participants had lower TBBMD values compared to children of the same age according to published data of Asian children despite having higher body weights. There were sex-specific differences in the BTMs and regional MBU of study participants. Conclusions This study provides a population-based dataset on bone mass, BTMs, and MBU of healthy preadolescent Malaysian children, which enables accurate skeletal assessment in this population.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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