Normal reference for bone density in healthy Chinese children.

An ethnicity- and gender-specific normal reference database is necessary for the clinical dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) assessment of skeletal status in Chinese children. We used a Lunar Prodigy DXA densitometer to measure bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), and bone area (BA) at total body and subcranial skeleton for 877 healthy Chinese children (505 boys, 372 girls) aged 5-13 yr. The height-for-age, BA-for-height, and BMC-for-BA percentile curves were developed using the LMS method (L, power in Box-Cox transformation; M, median; S, coefficient of variation).

Assessment of total body fat percentage from regional spine and femur DXA measurements among Chinese women and men.

This study was aimed at determining the correlation between regional body composition and total body fat percentage (TBF%), as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), among Chinese women and men. Men (n=203) and women (n=630), aged 20-87yr, were assessed for height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) and for total body, lumbar spine (L2-L4), and left and right proximal femur fat percentage using DXA. Based on their BMI, male and female subjects were subdivided into 4 groups.