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Dr. Catherine Gordon's work is directed at developing new approaches to preventing bone loss in at-risk patients by defining the lifestyle variables that affect the development of peak bone mass. She is seeking to identify factors that contribute to bone loss in healthy children and adolescents, as well as in those with such disorders as anorexia nervosa, inflammatory bowel disease, and cystic fibrosis. She is particularly interested in the influence of nutrition on hormones that affect bone development, such as adrenal and gonadal androgens, in this age group.
In a related line of research, she is evaluating ultrasound and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (PQCT) as modalities for measuring bone density.
Ongoing clinical trials include studies of:
- Methods of preventing bone loss in young women with anorexia nervosa;
- Mechanisms of bone loss in young adults with cystic fibrosis and inflammatory
bowel disease;
- Risk factors associated with stress fractures in female athletes;
- Nutritional and environmental factors associated with subclinical vitamin D deficiency and rickets;
- Quantitative bone ultrasound and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (PQCT) as tools for measuring bone density in adolescents.
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