Background: In a previous study we reported that healthy children born at 34 or fewer gestational weeks, with adequate weight for gestational age, had not completed their bone catch-up at mean age of 6.3 years.
Aim: This is a follow up report, performed on the same population one year later to determine at which age premature - born children achieve their bone mineral density (BMD) catch-up, compared to term-born controls.
Material and methods: Fifteen children mean age 7 years 3 months, born at 25 to 34 weeks of gestation, with a birth weight of 740 to 2.200 g were studied Radius, lumbar spine and femoral neck bone mineral density, whole body bone mineral content and body composition were assessed by DEXA.
Results: Height, body mass index, peripheral BMD, axial BMD, fat and lean body mass in these children were not different from term born controls.
Conclusions: Premature born children with adequate weight for gestational age, achieved peripheral and axial bone mineral density catch-up at the age of 7 to 8 years.