AIM: To provide reference data for bone mineral variables in 15- and 17-y-old adolescents and to analyse the relationships between these variables and measures of bone and body size, gender, puberty, growth, various lifestyle and environmental factors and socioeconomic background.

METHODS: In the same 321 randomly selected adolescents (147 boys and 174 girls) living in two different regions of Sweden, the total bone mineral content (TBMC), bone area (BA) and total bone mineral density (TBMD) were assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at ages 15 and 17 y. The effects of bone and body size, gender, growth, sexual maturity, physical activity, region of domicile, social conditions, food habits, smoking and alcohol intake on TBMC and TBMD were examined in multivariate analyses.

RESULTS: In the 15-y-old adolescents, BA, height, gender, physical activity, maturity and weight explained 91% and 48%, of the variance in TBMC and TBMD, respectively. In similar analyses in the 17-y-olds, the corresponding figures were 92% and 62%, respectively, when BA, height, growth, physical activity, gender and region emerged as significant in the model. In all these analyses, BA explained most of the variance in TBMC and TBMD. No significant reduction of variance was found when different measures of social conditions, smoking, food habits, alcohol or dietary intakes of energy, calcium or vitamin D were included in the models. The reason why region of domicile had a significant impact on TBMC in the 17-y-olds is not known. The fact that the normal fluoride concentration in drinking water (1.1 mg/L) is 10 times higher in the region where TBMC was higher than in the other region is an interesting observation.

CONCLUSION: Almost 90% of the variance in TBMC and 50% of that in TBMD was explained by measures of bone and body size and only a few percent by gender, physical activity, Tanner stage, growth and region of domicile.