Familial resemblance and diversity in bone mass and strength in the population are established during the first year of postnatal life

Abstract

Familial resemblance and diversity in bone structure and strength in adulthood are determined in part during growth. Whether these characteristics are established during gestation or shortly after birth is not known. Total-body, lumbar spine, and femoral neck size and mass and indices of tibial bending strength and distal radial compressive strength were measured using bone densitometry and quantitative computed tomography in 236 girls at 18.5 years of age. Among them, 219, 141, and 105 girls had crown-heel length (CHL) and weight recorded at birth and at 6 and 12 months of age, and then height and weight were recorded at 3, 5, 10, 13, and 15 years of age in 181, 176, 127, 111, and 228 girls, respectively. Of these girls, 101 and 93 girls also had bone structure assessed at 11 and 13 years of age, respectively. Similar bonemeasurementsweremade once in 78mother-father pairs. CHL and weight at birth did not correlate or did soweaklywith bone traits in girls at 18 years of age. By contrast, CHL at 6months correlated with the height, bone traits, and strength at puberty and at 18 years of age (r=0.24-0.56, p