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Relationship between Vitamin D Levels and Bone Tissue in Adolescents with and without Down Syndrome

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Abstract

Vitamin D (vitD) deficiency is a worldwide problem. Therefore, the main aims of this study were to compare 25-hydroxivitamin D levels (25(OH)D) in adolescents with and without Down syndrome (DS) and to study the relationship between 25(OH)D and bone. Eleven adolescents with DS (6 females) aged 15.5 ± 2.8 years and sixteen healthy controls (non-DS) (6 females) aged 14.3 ± 2.2 years were evaluated by bone imaging techniques. Blood samples were collected to determine vitD levels. Independent t-tests and analyses of covariance controlling for age, height, sex, sexual maturation, calcium intake and body mass index were performed to evaluate differences in 25(OH)D levels between groups. Pearson’s correlation test and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the association between 25(OH)D and bone mass. Adolescents with DS had lower 25(OH)D (22.8 ± 8.0 vs. 36.0 ± 6.5 ng/ml) than non-DS (d = 1.81; p < 0.05). Only 18% of participants with DS reached the recommended level of 30 ng/ml of 25(OH)D. No significant group interactions were found for any bone variable (all p > 0.05) but linear regression analyses suggested that 25(OH)D influenced positively femoral neck bone mineral density (β = 0.477, p = 0.038) and content at the 4% of the length of the tibia (β = 0.453, p = 0.008) in the non-DS and cortical volumetric bone mineral density at the 38% (β = 0.841, p = 0.034) in the DS. Adolescents with DS had lower levels of 25(OH)D and higher prevalence of vitD deficiency compared with non-DS. Associations between 25(OH)D and bone parameters were not observed for adolescents with DS but medium and positive correlations were observed in the non-DS group.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the help of all of the adolescents and their parents who participated in the study for their understanding and dedication to the project. Specials thanks are given to Fundación Down Zaragoza and Special Olympics Aragón for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GENUD (Growth, Exercise, NUtrition and Development) Research Group, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/ Pedro Cerbuna, 12 50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    Ángel Matute-Llorente, Alejandro González-Agüero, Luis A. Moreno-Aznar, Germán Vicente-Rodríguez & José A. Casajús

  2. (FCSD) Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Department of Physiatry and Nursing, University of Zaragoza, Ronda Misericordia 5, 22001, Huesca, Spain

    Ángel Matute-Llorente, Alejandro González-Agüero, Germán Vicente-Rodríguez & José A. Casajús

  3. Departamento de Fisiatría y Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud y del Deporte, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón-IA2-(Universidad de Zaragoza-CITA), C/ Pedro Cerbuna 12, Grupo GENUD, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    Ángel Matute-Llorente, Alejandro González-Agüero, Luis A. Moreno-Aznar, Germán Vicente-Rodríguez & José A. Casajús

  4. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain

    Luis A. Moreno-Aznar

  5. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Madrid, Spain

    Luis A. Moreno-Aznar

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  1. Ángel Matute-Llorente
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  2. Alejandro González-Agüero
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  3. Luis A. Moreno-Aznar
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  4. Germán Vicente-Rodríguez
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  5. José A. Casajús
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to José A. Casajús.

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Ethical Approval

The study design, protocol and consent forms were performed in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 (revised in World Medical Association 2013) and were reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Government of Aragon (CEICA, Spain) [C.I. PI10/026].

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflicts of Interest

This work was supported by ‘Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación’ ‘Plan Nacional I+D+i 2009-2011 (Project DEP 2009-09183)’. AML received a Grant AP12/02854 from ‘Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deportes’. There are no additional potential conflicts to declare.

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Matute-Llorente, Á., González-Agüero, A., Moreno-Aznar, L.A. et al. Relationship between Vitamin D Levels and Bone Tissue in Adolescents with and without Down Syndrome. J Dev Phys Disabil 29, 611–624 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-017-9545-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-017-9545-1

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