Combining Longitudinal Studies on Bone Mineral Content of Infants

• Activity Number: 508
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Bayesian Statistical Science
• Author(s): Ramu Goud Sudhagoni*+ and Gemechis Djira and Howard Wey and Bonny Specker
• Companies: South Dakota State University and South Dakota State University and South Dakota State University and South Dakota State University
• Keywords: Longitudinal Data ; Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling ; Bone Mineral Content

Abstract

Bone mineral content accrual in infants may depend on several factors, namely growth, mineral intake and possibly other dietary factors (vitamin D, protein intake, etc.). Longitudinal studies that have investigated the relationship between changes in body fat and lean mass on bone accrual during growth are inconsistent. No studies have been reported that describe the influence of changes in body composition with changes in bone accrual during the first year of life. Previously, three studies investigated the influence on bone accrual due to different mineral intake (Study 1), timing of introducing solid foods to the baby (Study 2), and gross motor activity (Study 3) during the first year of life. In this research our aim is to combine three longitudinal studies using Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach to determine whether greater gains in fat and lean mass during infancy have a positive or negative influence on bone accrual.