title: Bone mineral density in Turner's syndrome and the influence of pubertal development.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe bone mineral density at the lumbar spine in a group of girls with Turner's syndrome and determine its relation to pubertal development.
  
  
  METHODS
  Girls with Turner's syndrome aged over 12 years were invited to participate in the study. All participants underwent auxology, pubertal assessment and laboratory evaluation. Bone mineral density was estimated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Bone mineral apparent density was then calculated, and the results were compared with age-matched Dutch reference data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We studied 32 girls with Turner's syndrome, mean (SD) [range] age 16.7 (2.6) [12.4-20.2] years and height 148.3 (9.0) [126-159.2] cm. Bone mineral apparent density lumbar spine values were -0.87 SD, significantly lower than in the reference population (p <0.001). Bone mineral apparent density values were positively and significantly associated with breast Tanner stages and postmenarcheal status, but not spontaneous puberty. However, no significant association was found between bone mineral apparent density and karyotype, growth hormone or timing of oestrogen therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Girls with Turner's syndrome have lower bone mineral apparent density values at the lumbar spine, even after correcting for size, compared with an age- and sex-matched general population. Pubertal development has significant impact on bone mineral apparent density in girls with Turner's syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Dublin, Trinity College, National Children's Hospital, Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Montasser
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nadeem
authors.forename: Edna F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Roche
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D015519:Bone Density; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011627:Puberty; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014424:Turner Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescents; Bone mineral density; Children; Turner's syndrome