Is quantitative ultrasound a measure for metabolic bone disease in preterm-born infants? A prospective subcohort study.

A de Lange, J M Maaskant, M M van Weissenbruch

Open access · hybridAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in European journal of pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

5citing papers in PubMed

0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

Postnatal Steroids in Preterm Infants: A Narrative Review Series-Part 3: Impacts on Growth, Neurodevelopment & Nutrition.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
Review
Challenges in assessing bone health in early infancy: a narrative review of existing technologies.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025
Review
Diagnostics of Metabolic Bone Disease in Extremely Preterm Infants-Clinical Applicability of Bone Turnover Biochemical Markers and Quantitative Ultrasound.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
Article
Diagnosis and management of mineral and bone disorders in infants with CKD: clinical practice points from the ESPN CKD-MBD and Dialysis working groups and the Pediatric Renal Nutrition Taskforce.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2023
Review
Early elevated alkaline phosphatase as a surrogate biomarker of ongoing metabolic bone disease of prematurity.European journal of pediatrics · 2023
Observational

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

A de LangeDivision of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Amsterdam UMC, Location VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081, HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. annemieke.delange@amsterdamumc.nl.

J M MaaskantDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Amsterdam UMC, Location Academic Medical Center and University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

M M van WeissenbruchDivision of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Amsterdam UMC, Location VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081, HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc · NLAcademic Medical Center · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to (a) evaluate postnatal changes in bone development in relation to growth and (b) to determine factors associated with bone development, from birth to 24 months of corrected age. The metacarpal speed of sound (mcSOS) and metacarpal bone transmission time (mcBTT) were used to evaluate bone development in 98 preterm infants, during hospitalization and follow-up. The mcSOS and mcBTT values not only declined in the first 6 weeks of hospitalization but also during follow-up. The mcSOS reached its lowest point at 12 months (β=-34.64), while the mcBTT reached a plateau between 12 and 24 months (β=0.06). Univariable analysis showed that gender (p=0.28), time (p<0.001), and growth parameters (p<0.001) were significant negative associated factors with mcSOS, whereas with mcBTT, time (p=0.009), length (p=0.063), length standard deviation scores (SDS) (p=0.027), head circumference (p=0.005), and head circumference SDS (p=0.007) were significant positive. The multivariable model revealed that time (β= -3.364, p=<0.001), weight (β=-0.007, p<0.001) and length (β=1.163, p<0.001) for mcSOS and length (β=-0.021, p<0.001), and length SDS (β= 0.066, p<0.001) and head circumference (β=0.049, p<0.001) for mcBTT remained highly significant associated factors.Conclusion: The most important finding is that mcSOS decreased and the mcBTT reached a plateau to 24 months. In both mcSOS and mcBTT, the growth parameters were significant factors.Clinical Trial Registration: N/A What is known: • Metabolic bone disease is one of the possible long term adverse outcomes after preterm birth. • Metacarpal speed of sound (mcSOS) and metacarpal bone transmission time (mcBTT) decline in the early postnatal period. What is new: • During follow-up, mcSOS further decreased and reached its lowest point at 12 months, while the mcBTT reached a plateau up to 24 months. • Postnatal nutrition in relation to comorbidity does not meet the optimal mineralization rate of the developing preterm bone.

Indexed as

Bone Diseases, MetabolicPremature BirthFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornInfant, PrematurePregnancyProspective StudiesUltrasonographyBone developmentMetacarpal bone speed of soundMetacarpal bone transmission timePreterm infant

Identifiers

PMID33890155

DOI10.1007/s00431-021-04081-4

PMCPMC8346443

OpenAlexW3153895857

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.