Bone mineral density from early to middle adulthood in persons with Down syndrome

Abstract

Background While accelerated ageing is recognised among individuals with Down syndrome (DS), the trajectory of their bone health across adulthood remains poorly understood. Methods This study aimed to determine the age‐related loss of bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine in 128 adults with DS aged 18 to 54 years compared with 723 counterparts without DS. Results Men and women with DS had lower level of BMD than counterparts without DS across age groups. Magnitude of decrement in BMD as reflected in the z‐scores was similar between younger and older men with DS. Older women with DS, on the contrary, showed greater decrement in older ages especially in their fourth decade of life. Osteopenia and osteoporosis as defined using age‐specific and gender‐specific T‐scores affected greater number of men with DS (38% and 25%) than women (17% and 17%) aged 40–49 years. Conclusions Findings supported adults with DS, especially men, to have early bone mineral testing.