Tibial quantitative ultrasound versus whole-body and lumbar spine DXA in aDutch pediatric and adolescent population

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. To understand normal bone development, studies in healthy children and adolescents are important. To assess the applicabilit y of tibial quantitative ultrasound measurements (QUS) in children, we perf ormed a study that compared dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of the l umbar spine and whole body with tibial QUS, METHODS. For this study we recruited 146 Dutch children and adolescents, 58 boys (median age, 14.1 Sears; range, 7.6-23.4 years) and 88 girls (median age, 18.0 years; range, 7.6-23.5 years). Tanner Stage, weight, and height w ere assessed for all participants, Bone mineral density (BMD; g.cm(-2)) of the whole body and lumbar spine (L-2-L-4) and bone mineral apparent density (BMAD) of the lumbar spine (g.cm(-3)) were assessed by using the Lunar DPX L, For tibial QUS, the Soundscan compact system was used. RESULTS. Both lumbar as well as whole-body BMD showed a strong, significant correlation with tibial QUS in boys and girls: r(total body boys) = 0.81, r(total body girls) = 0.77, r(lumbar spine) (boys) = 0.79, and r(lumbar spi ne girls) = 0.72, Lumbar spine BMAD also showed significant correlations wi th tibial QUS: r(boys) = 0.63 and r(girls) = 0.63 (for all correlations, P < 0.001), CONCLUSIONS. Our study showing strong, significant correlations between DXA and tibial QUS measurements suggests that tibial QUS is a technique that m ay be applicable in children and adolescents.