ESPE Abstracts

Background: The large portion of bone mass is acquired with body growth during adolescent period and peak bone mass is achieved in early adulthood. Body composition is known as predictor of bone health.

Objective and hypotheses: The aims of this study were to evaluate normal bone mineral acquisition during adolescent period and to determine the factor that affects on it in Korean.

Method: This study was based on data from the Fourth and Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) that conducted by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We used bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD), fat free mass (FFM), and fat mass (FM) of whole body and regional data (head, arms, legs, lumbar spine and pelvis in BMC and BMD; trunk instead of spine, and pelvis in FM and FFM) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Results: A total 2120 adolescents (1112 male, 1008 females) between the age of 10 and 19 years were included. Whole body BMC (WBMC) was lowest at 10 years (1226.8 g in male and 1220.7 g in female) and highest at 19 years (2556.6 g in male and 2089.5 g in female). During adolescent period WBMC were increased 2.1 times in male and 1.7 times in female. Whole body BMD (WBMD) was lowest at 10 years (0.86 g/cm² in male and 0.84 g/cm² in female) and highest at 19 years (1.16 g/cm² in male and 1.10 g/cm² in female). WBMD were increased 1.3 times during this period. The WBMC fraction of FFM were 4.4 – 4.9% in male and 4.7–5.6% in female, and higher in female (P<0.001). WBMC and WBMD were strongly associated with FFM than FM, especially FFM of trunk in both genders.

Conclusion: Significant increases in BMC and BMD were observed during adolescent periods in both genders and FFM was the strongest predictor of WBMC and WBMD acquisition.