Aim: Identify genetic variants influencing lean mass and the muscle-bone unit in children and

adolescents.

Hypothesis: Genetic variants influencing lean mass will be easier to detect in children and adolescents

where the noise introduced by environmental exposures and bone loss will be less pronounced than in

adult populations. We also expect that variants with pleiotropic effects on lean mass and BMD exist

given the common mesenchimal origin and the biological cross-talk between cells from both tissues, and

hope they can be identified applying a bivariate analysis.

Exposure Variable: Genome Wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphysms

Outcome variables: Bone Mineral Density and Lean Mass for both Total Body and site specific

measurements.

Confounding variables: The linear models used in the model need to be adjusted for base line

characteristics such as: Age, Gender, Height and Weight. As well as DXA derived variables as: Fat mass,

Bone Mineral Content (BMC) and Bone Area (BA) for Total body and site-specific measurements.