Early-life nutritional status as a determinant of bone density and hip joint morphology in children.

BACKGROUND

Early childhood is an important period of skeletal development during which nutritional exposures can affect mineral accretion and joint morphology. Nonetheless, few studies have compared bone mineral density (BMD) and hip joint morphology in children.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between the nutritional status of children at an early age and the BMD and morphology of hip joints in children.

METHODS

It was a retrospective cohort study of 550 children aged 614 years who had the data of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and hip radiography (January 2021-December 2025). The nutritional status of infants in early life was defined as adequate or suboptimal based on the infant's feeding practices and developmental indicators. Regression analyses were performed using multivariate models, adjusting for age, sex, birth weight, BMI, gestational age, physical activity, and vitamin D supplementation.

RESULTS

The children who were fed poorly in their early life had poorer total-body and site-specific Z-scores of BMD and a more prevalent incidence of altered hip morphology. After adjustment, nutritional optimization remained strongly associated with low BMD and increased risk of low bone density and hip deformities. There was an inverse-proportional relationship, graded, whereby low nutritional scores were associated with low skeletal performance.

CONCLUSION

Nutritional status in early-life was found to be significantly connected with the bone mineral density and morphology of hip joints in childhood. The results indicate that early nutritional exposures may play an important role in children's skeletal health, but it is impossible to draw causal conclusions because the study is retrospective.