Bone Accrual in Children and Adolescent Nonelite Swimmers: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

Objective: To examine differences in bone mass between children and adolescents swimming competitively at nonelite levels (locally and regionally) and nonathletes and to assess changes in bone mass in these 2 groups over 24 months after taking into consideration several known confounders of bone mass. Design: Observational prospective study. Participants: White nonelite swimmers (n = 128) and nonathletes (n = 106) 8 to 18 years of age from Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Main Outcome Measures: Participants underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to assess total body and hip bone mineral content (BMC) at baseline and 12 and 24 months later. Results: At baseline, swimmers had 4.2% and 6.1% higher adjusted BMC for the total body and hip, respectively, compared with nonathletes (P values

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