We investigated associations between bone mineral content (BMC) and bone-related biomarkers (BM) in pre-and early pubertal children of both sexes. In this population, we found that bone turnover markers explain a small part of BMC variance. INTRODUCTION It is still debated whether BM including bone turnover markers (BTM), sex hormones and calciotropic (including cortisol) hormones provide information on BMC changes during growth. METHODS Three hundred fifty-seven girls and boys aged 6 to 13 years were included in this study. BM was measured at baseline and BMC twice at 9 months and 4 years using DXA. Relationship between BMs was assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). BM was tested in its ability to explain BMC variation by using structural equation modelling (SEM) on cross-sectional data. Longitudinal data were used to further assess the association between BM and BMC variables. RESULTS BMC and all BMs, except calciotropic hormones, increased with age. PCA in BM revealed a three-factor solution (BTM, sex hormones and calciotropic hormones). In the SEM, age accounted for 61% and BTM for 1.2% of variance in BMC (cross-sectional). Neither sex nor calciotropic hormones were BMC explanatory variables. In the longitudinal models (with single BM as explanatory variables), BMC, age and sex at baseline accounted for 79-81% and 70-75% in BMC variance at 9 months and 4 years later, respectively. P1NP was consistently associated with BMC. CONCLUSION BMC strongly tracks in pre- and early pubertal children. In this study, only a small part of BMC variance was explained by single BTM at the beginning of pubertal growth.

中文翻译：

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青春期前和青春期儿童的骨矿物质含量与骨转换指标，性激素和嗜钙激素之间的关系。

我们调查了两个性别的青春期前后儿童的骨矿物质含量（BMC）与骨相关生物标记物（BM）之间的关联。在这一人群中，我们发现骨转换标记可以解释BMC变异的一小部分。引言包括骨转换标志物（BTM），性激素和亲钙性激素（包括皮质醇）在内的BM是否能提供有关生长过程中BMC变化的信息，仍存在争议。方法这项研究纳入了357名年龄在6至13岁之间的女孩和男孩。使用DXA在基线和BMC分别在9个月和4年两次测量BM。使用主成分分析（PCA）评估BM之间的关系。通过使用横截面数据上的结构方程模型（SEM），测试了BM解释BMC变化的能力。纵向数据用于进一步评估BM和BMC变量之间的关联。结果BMC和所有BMs（除嗜钙激素外）均随年龄增长。BM中的PCA显示出三因素解决方案（BTM，性激素和趋钙激素）。在SEM中，年龄占BMC方差的61％，而BTM占1.2％。性别和嗜钙激素都不是BMC的解释变量。在纵向模型中（以单个BM作为解释变量），在9个月和4年后，BMC，基线时的年龄和性别分别占BMC方差的79-81％和70-75％。P1NP与BMC持续相关。结论BMC强烈追踪青春期前和青春期儿童。在这项研究中，只有一小部分BTM在青春期开始时就解释了BMC变异的一小部分。