Maturation disparity between hand‐wrist bones in Hong Kong Chinese children

Abstract

The hand-wrist radiographs of 571 Chinese boys and girls from Hong Kong, 2 months to 17 years old, were assessed centerby-center according to the Greulich-Pyle Atlas. For each child the mean skeletal ages (SA) of six bone groups with each group consisting of bones from the same rows, were recorded. The overall SA was also obtained as the arithmetic mean of all centers.Maturation disparity between the various bone groups was demonstrated with the two proximal rows (distal radio-ulna, carpals) more retarded, the two distal rows (middle and distal phalanges) less retarded, and the two middle rows (metacarpals, proximal phalanges) intermediate in maturity. This disparity was especially pronounced during the childhood period and was more marked in boys. Recording SA of separate bone groups in addition to the overall SA was recommended in the presence of significant maturation disparity.The comparison of the present results with the ossification ages of the various hand-wrist centers in the same group of children determined in a previous study (Lee et al., '68) revealed that the less retarded hand epiphyses of the distal rows had precocious ossification timing, while the more retarded centers of the proximal rows around the wrist had delayed ossscation timing relative to the American white children.

Maturation Disparity between Hand-Wrist Bones in a Chinese Sample of Normal Children: An Analysis Based on Automatic BoneXpert and Manual Greulich and Pyle Atlas Assessment

“…Our findings were somewhat similar to those of Lee ( 14 ), who applied the manual GP atlas to assess children from Hong Kong in China in the 1970s. They reported that the middle and distal phalanges tended to be relatively advanced, followed by the metacarpals, proximal phalanges and distal radius-ulna.…”

“…Additionally, according to the anatomical differences and related references, five groups were defined, each of which consisted of bones from the same row, to further clarify the maturation disparity ( 5 13 14 ). The groups were as follows: 1) distal radius and distal ulna; 2) the first, third and fifth metacarpals; 3) the first, third and fifth proximal phalanges; 4) the third and fifth middle phalanges; and 5) the first, third and fifth distal phalanges.…”

“…Because BoneXpert can rapidly measure both the total BA of the hand and wrist and the individual BAs of 8–13 separate bone structures, it provides an opportunity to observe the maturity disparities of these bones, which have been noted by several authors ( 12 13 14 15 ). For example, the authors who developed the GP atlas noted that, even in normal children, the bones in the hand and wrist tend to behave more or less as a unit during development ( 1 ).…”

Estructura Y Dinámica Poblacional De Los Cazadores-Recolectores Del Sitio Médano Petroquímica (La Pampa, Argentina): Inferencias a Partir Del Uso De Tablas De Vida Y Otros Indicadores Paleodemográficos

“…Respecto a esto, Kelly (1995) establece que el tiempo entre nacimientos es el factor más influyente en la fecundidad para este tipo de poblaciones. Los cazadores-recolectores necesitan tener intervalos largos entre nacimientos debido a la energía que insume el cuidado de niños durante la lactancia prolongada y la necesidad de cargarlos durante los procesos de movilidad grupal (Lee 1971;Sussman 1972). Si bien en una primera instancia se consideró la lactancia extendida como la principal causa del espaciamiento entre los nacimientos, el avance de las investigaciones permitió conocer que la lactancia suprime la ovulación solo durante los primeros 18 meses, alejándose del intervalo mínimo de 36 meses establecido para los cazadores-recolectores (Menken 1975).…”

Race and stature differences in the skeletal maturation of the hand and wrist

“…The developmental heterogeneity of the individual bone centres in the hand and wrist (Lee, 1971;Pyle, Mann, Dreizen, Kelly, Macy and Spier, 1948) has usually been regarded as a nuisance in attempts to arrive at overall assessments of skeletal age, necessitating as it does the scrutiny of a great number of individual centres in order to arrive at some sort of stable average. The present study is an inquiry into these discrepancies, to see whether they may be exploited as contributions to the reliability of assessment of skeletal age.…”