L Andrew Ashton and J Stephen
Sydney Childrens' Hospital

A Nabavi-Tabrizi
Sutherland Hospital

J Bleasel
Institue of Rheumatology and Orthopaedics

J Briody
Childrens' Hospital, Westmealn

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that spinal osteoporosis is an aetiological factor in the development of Scheuermann's disease in adolescents. Clinical and radiological data was collected on 12 individuals with Scheuermann's disease (SD). Lumbar spine bone mineral density (L2–4) was measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Age and sex-matched adolescents were used as controls. The number of standard deviations from the mean of age and sex-matched controls were calculated. In regards to results, SD patients demonstrated high bone densities of between 1 and 1.5 standard deviations above the mean of age-matched controls. These results suggest that osteoporosis is not an aetiological factor in Scheuermann's disease and that bone density measurements may indeed be higher than aged-matched controls in the general population.

Key words: Scheuermann's disease; osteoporosis; aetiology