TY - JOUR T1 - Whole body bone mineral content in healthy children and adolescents JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 9 LP - 15 DO - 10.1136/adc.76.1.9 VL - 76 IS - 1 AU - Christian Mølgaard AU - Birthe Lykke Thomsen AU - Ann Prentice AU - Tim J Cole AU - Kim Fleischer Michaelsen Y1 - 1997/01/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/76/1/9.abstract N2 - Data from healthy children are needed to evaluate bone mineralisation during childhood. Whole body bone mineral content (BMC) and bone area were examined by dual energy x ray absorptiometry (Hologic 1000/W) in healthy girls (n=201) and boys (n=142) aged 5–19 years. Centile curves for bone area for age, BMC for age, bone area for height, and BMC for bone area were constructed using the LMS method. Bone mineral density calculated as BMC/bone area is not useful in children as it is significantly influenced by bone size. Instead, it is proposed that bone mineralisation is assessed in three steps: height for age, bone area for height, and BMC for bone area. These three steps correspond to three different causes of reduced bone mass: short bones, narrow bones, and light bones. ER -