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Bone microstructure at the distal tibia provides a strength advantage to males in late puberty: An HR‐pQCT study
Author(s) -
Burrows Melonie,
Liu Danmei,
Moore Sarah,
McKay Heather
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of bone and mineral research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.882
H-Index - 241
eISSN - 1523-4681
pISSN - 0884-0431
DOI - 10.1359/jbmr.091034
Subject(s) - quantitative computed tomography , medicine , tibia , cortical bone , bone density , bone mineral , trabecular bone , anatomy , osteoporosis
Bone is a complex structure with many levels of organization. Advanced imaging tools such as high‐resolution (HR) peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) provide the opportunity to investigate how components of bone microstructure differ between the sexes and across developmental periods. The aim of this study was to quantify the age‐ and sex‐related differences in bone microstructure and bone strength in adolescent males and females. We used HR‐pQCT (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical, Geneva, Switzerland) to assess total bone area (ToA), total bone density (ToD), trabecular bone density (TrD), cortical bone density (CoD), cortical thickness (Cort.Th), trabecular bone volume (BV/TV), trabecular number (Tb.N), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular separation (Tb.Sp), trabecular spacing standard deviation (Tb.Sp SD), and bone strength index (BSI, mg 2 /mm 4 ) at the distal tibia in 133 females and 146 males (15 to 20 years of age). We used a general linear model to determine differences by age‐ and sex‐group and age × sex interactions ( p < 0.05). Across age categories, ToD, CoD, Cort.Th, and BSI were significantly lower at 15 and 16 years compared with 17 to 18 and 19 to 20 years in males and females. There were no differences in ToA, TrD, and BV/TV across age for either sex. Between sexes, males had significantly greater ToA, TrD, Cort.Th, BV/TV, Tb.N, and BSI compared with females; CoD and Tb.Sp SD were significantly greater for females in every age category. Males' larger and denser bones confer a bone‐strength advantage from a young age compared with females. These structural differences could represent bones that are less able to withstand loads in compression in females. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research