Bone mineral density of children with physical disabilities in the United Arab Emirates: a feasibility study

ABSTRACT

To investigate the feasibility of measuring the bone mineral density [BMD] of Emirati children with physical disabilities. Ten boys and 7 girls, 4 years 2 months to 18 years 4 months [Mean 10 years], 12 with cerebral palsy and 5 with Down syndrome were studied A Child Information Profile was developed. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry [DXA] was used to measure the BMD of the lumbar spine and hips. Peripheral quantitative ultrasound [pQUS] was used to obtain the estimated BMD of the subjects'non-dominant heel Methods varied in effectiveness. Recruitment and nutritional data return were limited. Not all subjects could be measured through sonography because of technical issues. Dynamometry could not be performed on subjects with low cognitive abilities. Anthropometric and DXA measurements were well tolerated by all subjects. The subjects had lower BMD than the values reported in Western studies. The results indicated that it would not be particularly feasible to conduct a large-scale study under these conditions. Recommendations are provided