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 bone measurements were made once in 78 mother-father pairs. CHL and weight at birth did not correlate or did so weakly with bone traits in girls at 18 years of age. By contrast, CHL at 6 months correlated with the height, bone traits, and strength at puberty and at 18 years of age (r ¼ 0.24-0.56, p < .001) in girls and with their parents' height and bone traits (r ¼ 0.15-0.37, p < .05). When the girls' CHL at 6 months was stratified into quartiles, the absolute and relative differences in bone traits observed at puberty ($11.5 years) were maintained as these traits tracked during the ensuing 7 years. Similarly, weight at 6 months correlated with the girls' bone traits at puberty and 18 years of age (r ¼ 0.22-0.55, p < .05). During puberty and at 18 years of age, the girls' bone traits correlated with the corresponding traits in their parents (r ¼ 0.32-0.43, p < .01). It is concluded that familial resemblance in bone structural strength and the position of an individual's bone traits relative to others in adulthood are likely to be established during the first year of life. Thus susceptibility to bone fragility late in life has its antecedents established early in life. ß

Bone trait ranking in the population is not established during antenatal growth but is robustly established in the first postnatal year

“…While trait ranking during gestation and at birth correlated weakly or modestly with ranking in infancy, we found that strong correlations emerged for all traits after 6 months of age. This finding is in agreement with that reported by Wang et al, who reported that tracking in bone traits is established at 6 months postnatal, but not at birth [ 11 ]. They suggested that this could be partly the result of the release from maternal constraints, which permits expression of maternal, paternal and individual genetic factors during postnatal life [ 11 ], but we could not confirm this in the current study.…”

“…Genetic factors determine most of the variance in height and bone dimensions in adulthood, and tracking is well documented during childhood and adulthood [ 2 , 11 ]. However, trait ranking in the first trimester only weakly predicted the ranking at birth [ 10 , 21 ].…”

“…Bjørnerem et al reported little tracking during intrauterine life and that the ranking of femur length in early gestation predicted only 10% of the variance in trait ranking at the end of gestation [ 10 ]. In addition, Wang et al reported that height at 6 months and weight at 12 months of age, but not at birth, predicted bone dimensions in females at 18 years of age [ 11 ]. The latter observations challenge the notion that tracking is well established during intrauterine growth and favour the establishment of individual trait ranking in the population within the first 6–12 months of postnatal life.…”

Concerted actions of insulin-like growth factor 1, testosterone, and estradiol on peripubertal bone growth: A 7-year longitudinal study

“…Bone traits track from the position established early in life, and hence the risk of fragility fractures in old age has its origin during growth 1, 2. Bone growth from the onset of puberty to young adulthood is critical because bone mass approximately doubles during this period 3.…”

Trabecular bone of growth plate origin influences both trabecular and cortical morphology in adulthood

“…These traits then track in their trajectory of origin to adulthood 1, 3, 5. Crown‐heel length at 6 months of age predicts bone mineral content (BMC), vBMD, and bone strength at the distal radius and tibial shaft in adulthood 6. aBMD of the distal radius tracks in adults 45 to 84 years of age during 7 years 7.…”