[Variations in bone calcium content according to age and sex in a group of control subjects aged 3 to 18 years (author's transl)].

More than a thousand bone calcium content measurements were made in a group of children by means of densitometry, using the Norland-Cameron apparatus. The region chosen was that dividing the middle from the lower third of the radius, and the method used ensures that only a very weak dose is delivered to a limited field of the forearm. Errors occur more frequently in children than in adults because of lack of immobility and the large amounts of fatty tissue present. Normal curves were established as a function of age and sex in 405 control children of French nationality. These were similar to those obtained in a group of children from the Cameron but French children appear to have lower mineral levels than American children. This method is reproducible and suitable for surveillance of changes in mineral levels in the same subject.