Bone mineral density is correlated with body mass index rather than with the presence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

The presence of decreased bone density can hypothetically alter the growth or remodeling of bone in children, and some researchers have reported an association with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.  However, in a paper in the journal Spine, researchers contended that comparing adolescents with scoliosis to those without scoliosis, lower body mass index was a more important determinant of decreased bone density, and among the 89 patients studied, none of them met the criteria for the definition of osteoporosis that was established by the International Society for Clinical Densitometry.  The paper is titled, “Adolescents With Idiopathic Scoliosis Are Not Osteoporotic.”