This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Bone strength tied to age at independent walking
Bone strength outcomes in adulthood may be weakened if age at independent walking occurred late, especially in men, according to findings published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
Alex Ireland, PhD, a lecturer in physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated data from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development on 627 women (mean age, 63.2 years) and 588 men (mean age, 63.1 years) to determine the relationship between age at independent walking (obtained at age 2 years) and bone strength outcomes (obtained at age 60-64 years).
Higher child and adult socioeconomic position, greater adult height, lower weight, less lean and fat mass, and below average sporting ability were associated with later age at onset of walking.
Lower total hip bone mineral content, bone mineral density and bone area were associated with later walking age in men. However, no link was found between walking age and hip bone outcomes in women.
Lower spine bone mineral content, BMD and bone area were associated with later walking age in men. After adjustment for height, later walking and lower spine bone mineral content and bone area were associated in women.
In men, later walking age was associated with lower values in all outcomes for femoral shaft and femoral neck sites.
No relationship was found between walking age and distal radius peripheral quantitative CT in women, whereas later walking age was associated with lower total bone mineral content and lower total cross-sectional area in men.
“Age at onset of independent walking appears to have a lifelong association with estimates of bone strength at multiple skeletal sites in men,” the researchers wrote. “In addition to associations with bone growth, these may be mediated by altered physical activity and lean mass. The lack of strong associations in women is another important finding from this study. These results suggest that early life interventions known to hasten walking onset may also have a positive influence on skeletal health across the population and in children. Given the challenges of length of follow-up for verifying these findings in population-level interventional trials, it would be prudent to first investigate these proposals in children prone to low bone strength and increased fracture risk.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.