Abstract
Objective
To determine the relationship between habitual physical activity (PA) level and peripheral
qualitative computed tomography-determined quantitative tibia characteristics of premenarcheal
girls.
Methods
Premenarcheal girls matched for age (10–13 years), bone age and maturity level were assigned into: a) low PA group (LPA, n = 25), b) moderate PA group (MPA, n = 17), and c) high PA group (HPA, n = 18). Participants’ daily dietary intake, tibia’s geometry and serum levels of calcium
and vitamin D were assessed.
Results
Premenarcheal girls demonstrating HPA exhibited greater pericortical thickness, cross-sectional
area (CSA) and bone mineral content (BMC) (p < .001) in cortical bone, greater BMC, volumetric bone density (vBMD) and polar stress
strength index (SSIp) in trabecular bone (p < 0.001–0.05) and greater total BMC (p < .05) and vBMD (p < .01) when compared to their physically inactive or moderately active counterparts.
MPA exhibited greater values of cortical BMC (p < .01) and SSIp (p < .05) than LPA. Partial correlation analysis (adjusted for BMI) revealed modest associations
between PA score and bone geometry parameters (r = 0.36–0.49, p < .05) at 38% of tibia length.
Conclusions
Habitual PA affects geometry of both cortical and trabecular areas of a long bone
of premenarcheal girls in a dose-dependent manner. Specifically, PA increases both
the density and size of cortical bone but only the density of trabecular bone during
preadolescence. Given the importance of peak bone mass for future fracture risk, high
levels of PA during childhood could be a major target for public health interventions
aimed at optimising bone health in prepubertal children when the greatest bone gains
occur.
Abbreviations:
PA (Physical activity), MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task), BMC (Bone mineral content), BMD (Bone mineral density), DXA (Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry), pQCT (Peripheral quantitative computed tomography), vBMD (Volumetric bone mineral density), LPA (Low PA), MPA (Moderate PA), HPA (High PA), BMI (Body mass index), CSA (Cross-sectional area), SSIp (Stress strength index in torsion), MCSA (Muscle cross-sectional area), ANOVA (Analysis of variance), 25(OH)D (Hydroxyvitamin D)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 20, 2013
Accepted:
August 13,
2013
Received:
February 7,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
