Total body bone mineral in light-for-gestational-age infants and appropriate-for-gestational-age infants.

Dual-photon-absorptiometry using 153Gd in a whole body scanner was used to measure total body bone mineral in 51 newborn infants. In preterm light-for-gestational-age infants total body bone mineral was 12.6 g v.s. 25.6 g in preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age infants (p less than 0.05). In term light-for-gestational-age infants total body bone mineral was 41.4 g v. 84.2 g in term appropriate-for-gestational-age infants (p less than 0.001). The correlations between gestational age and total body bone mineral was best described by exponential regression lines.