| Summary: | Abstract Osteoporotic vertebral fractures are common among ageing populations worldwide. Although small vertebral size has been established as an independent risk factor for vertebral fracturing, relatively few determinants of vertebral size are currently known. The present study aimed to reveal lifetime factors that associate with midlife vertebral size. Overall physical activity across the lifespan, sports participation in adulthood, occupational physical activities in adulthood, and physical growth in early life were investigated. A subsample of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study 1966 was used, with a 46-year follow-up (n = 1,540). Vertebral dimensions were obtained by magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine at the age of 46. The present data showed that high lifelong leisure-time physical activity and active participation in high-impact sports in adulthood were associated with large midlife vertebral size among women, but no such association was detected among men. Occupational physical activities were not associated with vertebral size among either sex. Early-life weight gain predicted large midlife vertebrae among both sexes, and the effect of height gain on vertebral size seemed to be mediated by adult height. The present findings show that the female vertebra in particular seems to benefit from high leisure-time physical activity and active participation in high-impact sports. Regardless of sex, early development also seems to play a role in determining later-life vertebral size. Prospective studies should confirm the causality of the present findings, and further research is needed to shed light on other lifetime factors as determinants of vertebral size. Tiivistelmä Selkänikaman osteoporoottiset murtumat ovat maailmanlaajuisesti yleinen ikääntyvän väestön vaiva. Pienen nikamakoon tiedetään lisäävän nikamamurtuman riskiä, mutta nikamakokoon vaikuttavia tekijöitä tunnetaan toistaiseksi varsin vähän. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää keski-iän nikamakokoon vaikuttavia elinaikaisia ...
|
|---|