[Prevention of vitamin D deficiency in adolescents and pre-adolescents. An interventional multicenter study on the biological effect of repeated doses of 100,000 IU of vitamin D3]. / Prophylaxie de la carence en vitamine D chez l'adolescent et le préadolescent. Etude interventionnelle multicentrique sur les effets biologiques d'un apport répété de 100,000 UI de vitamin D3.

UNLABELLED: Recent studies have shown a high prevalence of calcium and vitamin D deficiencies in adolescents. The aim of this present study was to follow the changes in calcium status and 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels during winter in preadolescents and adolescents from four university hospitals in northern France. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Two groups of teenagers and adolescents (range: 10-15 years) were followed from October 1996 to June 1997. They were given either 100,000 IU of vitamin D (treated group n = 33) or a placebo (control group n = 35) in October, January and April. Serum calcium, phosphate, 25(OH)D and iPTH levels were measured at inclusion and every three months thereafter. RESULTS: At inclusion, plasma or serum 25(OH)D levels were < or = 10 ng/mL in 16 subjects and < 6 ng/mL in six. In control children, no significant change in 25(OH)D occurred during the study, while plasma or serum iPTH levels increased to 34 +/- 11 pg/mL. In the treated groups, 25(OH)D levels remained > 20 ng/mL in every subject; no hypercalcemia was observed; and the mean plasma or serum iPTH level was 25 +/- 14 pg/mL at the end of the study. CONCLUSION: Teenagers presented with a high prevalence of biological vitamin D deficiency at the end of summer. The increase of iPTH during winter in the unsupplemented group suggests that this has secondary consequences on their calcium homeostasis unless they are supplemented with vitamin D. We advocate a sufficient calcium supply and a 100,000 IU vitamin D supplement given two or three times during winter to preadolescents and adolescents living in northern France.

Growth curves in untreated Ullrich-Turner syndrome: French reference standards 1-22 years.

UNLABELLED: In this retrospective study spanning 22 years, 167 untreated females with Ullrich-Turner syndrome were identified and their case records followed throughout their growth period. Information on total and segmental height and weight was retrieved from the case records and used to plot growth curves. Centiles from birth to adulthood were calculated which showed that the normal pubertal growth spurt was absent. Compared with normal French reference standards, the adult total height deficit was about 21 cm and the adult upper body height deficit was about 15 cm. CONCLUSION: Reference curves for untreated Ullrich-Turner syndrome are provided, which should form a basis for assessing the impact of growth-promoting treatment in this disorder.

[Vaginal ecology, climate, landscapes and populations (xenoecies and facies)]. / L'écologie vaginale, climat, paysages et peuplements (xénoecies et faciès).

Brief study of vaginal populations, the human vagina being considered as a biotopic cavity. Allusion to dynamic aspects ("vaginal climate", "landscapes") and to various bacterial populations. Introduction of the concept of xenoecies and of facies. This study is preceded by essential definitions of terms widely used in ecology.

Body Mass Index variations: centiles from birth to 87 years.

This report provides Body Mass Index (weight/height2) values for the French population from birth to the age of 87 years. BMI curves increase during the first year, decrease until the age of 6, increase again up to 65 years and decrease thereafter. These variations reflect the total changes of fat body mass during life. The 50th centile values of Wt/Ht2 at the ages of 20, 40, 60, 80 years are 21.5, 24.6, 25.4, 24.4 kg/m2 for men and 20.6, 22.6, 24.1, 23.4 kg/m2 for women. The values for the 3rd, 50th and 97th centiles in the middle years are approximately 18, 24 and 32 kg/m2. Graphs for these and four other percentiles are plotted against age, and two other graphs summarising the variation and skewness of the Wt/Ht2 distribution are provided to calculate exact percentiles and Z-scores for individuals.

Influence of body fat distribution during childhood on body fat distribution in adulthood: a two-decade follow-up study.

Development of body fat distribution was assessed in a two-decade follow-up study. The present article describes the development of various trunk/extremity ratios and gives the figures by age and sex between 1 month to 21 years. The relationship between adult and childhood skinfold (SF) ratio measurements is weak in boys and slightly better in girls. From the present and our previous study, we can select adiposity measurements in children which both are associated to pathologies and have the best correlations with adult values, i.e. the body mass index (BMI) in both sexes, trunk SF in boys and the subscapular/arm SF ratio in girls. Consequently, a boy with both high BMI and trunk SF values or a girl with both high BMI and subscapular/arm SF values have an increased risk of centralized obesity at adult age.

The prediction in boys and girls of the weight/height index and various skinfold measurements in adults: a two-decade follow-up study.

Prediction of adiposity in adults from anthropometric measurements (arm and trunk skinfolds, weight/height) made during childhood and adolescence was assessed in a two-decade follow-up study. Weight/height showed the best correlation between childhood and adulthood values in both sexes. The child-adult correlations for skinfolds were better in males than in females and their value varied according to body site. In males, trunk skinfolds showed slightly better correlations than arm sites, and the weakest correlations were observed for the biceps. In females arm skinfolds, especially the biceps, showed a better predictive value than trunk skinfolds for which the child-adult correlation was almost nil. Trunk skinfolds, which are more often associated with metabolic complications of obesity than limb skinfolds, are predictable from childhood measurements in males and not in females. The prediction of adiposity development in different body sites may help identify children most susceptible to various pathologies in later life.

A lifetime asymptotic growth curve for human height.

A new seven-parameter asymptotic growth curve has been applied to longitudinal data on the height of 13 boys and 14 girls from 1 month to 19 years of age. The residual sums of squares with this new curve were 7.5 times lower on the average than with the currently-used five-parameter curve No. 1 of Preece and Baines (1978, Annals of Human Biology 5, 1-24) and 2.4 times lower than with the recent six-parameter curve of Shohoji and Sasaki (1987, Growth 51, 432-450). The new curve is expressed with respect to total age, passes through the origin, and fits infants as satisfactorily as older children.

Tracking the development of adiposity from one month of age to adulthood.

The development of adiposity was followed in 164 subjects from the age of one month to adulthood. The 25th and 75th centiles of the weight/height2 (W/H2) index were chosen as cut-off points to define the lean, medium and fat subjects at both one and 21 years of age. Only 42% of the children remained in their original category, that is 41% of the lean infants at one year stayed lean, 42% of the medium infants stayed medium and 41% of the fat infants stayed fat. Accordingly, most fat infants did not stay fat, but twice as many fat as non-fat infants became fat adults (41 and 20% respectively). The relative risk of being fat adults was 1 for the lean, 1 for the medium and 2 for the fat infants at one year. Several paths of development emerged: they were related to age at the second rise in adiposity, termed adiposity rebound, which usually occurs at about six years, as observed on skinfold thickness and W/H2 charts. The earlier the rebound, the higher the adiposity at adult age, whether this was measured by W/H2 index or subscapular skinfold. The cohorts of children who left the channel they had been following included fat infants with a late rebound who subsequently returned to normal, and lean infants with an early rebound who grew fatter. Other cohorts remained in their original groups, for example, fat infants with an early rebound who stayed fat and lean infants with a late one who stayed lean. Age at rebound provided two indications: the existence of a regulartory process among the transiently fat or lean infants who returned to average after a late or early rebound respectively, and pathological development among the children who became fat or lean after an early or late rebound. Age at rebound is an indicator of the subsequent development of fatness.