Bone mineral density in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: A case-control study from South India

A BSTRACT Introduction: Bone mineral density (BMD) is affected in diabetes, and we studied the changes in BMD in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and matched controls. We also assessed the impact of diabetes duration on BMD using the Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Methods: In this single-centre, case-control study, we included 30 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 18 years with a T1DM duration of more than 6 months and a similar number of age, sex, and puberty-matched healthy controls. All the participants underwent a detailed clinical and biochemical evaluation and the BMD was assessed by DXA. The results were analysed by appropriate statistical methods. Results: The study population (14 M: 16F) had a mean (SD) age of 11.9 (3.8) years, T1DM duration of 2.7 (2) years and HbA1c of 11.2 (2.7) percent. The BMD (gm/cm 2 ) at total body less head (TBLH) and lumbar spine (LS) was 0.63 (0.13), 0.59 (0.15) in cases and 0.65 (0.12), 0.62 (0.15) in controls ( P = 0.473), respectively. The duration of diabetes did not show significant correlation with the BMD (r = 0.328, P = 0.077). BMD is correlated positively with physical activity and negatively with screen time in both cases and controls. Conclusion: Our study did not find a significant difference in BMD between children with T1DM and matched controls. However, it showed the importance of physical activity and screen time for bone health in children, irrespective of diabetes.