Human growth and development can be expressed in terms of two “ages”, namely, the life age (calendar age) and the biological age (bone age). Bone age is short for skeletal age and is determined with the help of a specific image of the bone in an X-ray camera. To find out the bone age of a person, an X-ray of the wrist of the person’s left hand is usually taken. The doctor determines the bone age by looking at the development of the metacarpal phalanges, carpal bones and the ossification center of the lower radius and ulna of the left hand.
We can analyze the following six points: What is the significance of measuring bone age?
The changes in human skeletal development are basically similar, and the developmental process of each bone has continuity and stages. Bones at different stages have different morphological characteristics; therefore, bone age assessment can more accurately reflect the growth and development level and maturity of an individual. It can not only determine the biological age of a child, but also provide an early understanding of a child’s growth potential and the trend of sexual maturity through bone age: the adult height of a child can also be predicted through bone age, and the determination of bone age is also very helpful for the diagnosis of some pediatric endocrine diseases.
What are the methods of measuring bone age?
The most commonly used methods are the G-P atlas and the TW2 (TW3) scale; the prediction of adult height includes the B-P method, the RWT method, and the TW2 method.
What are the diseases associated with abnormal bone age?
The difference between biological age (bone age)-life age is said to be normal development if it is within ±1 year.
If the difference between biological age (bone age) and life age is >1 year, it is called early development (abbreviation: precocious).
If the difference between biological age (bone age) and life age is <1 year, it is called delayed development (abbreviated: late maturity). Abnormalities in bone age are often an aspect of certain endocrine disorders manifested in pediatrics. Many diseases will affect skeletal development, either making it earlier or making it later, such as adrenocortical hyperplasia or tumor, Alreb-ert syndrome, precocious puberty, hyperthyroidism, and ovarian granulosa cell tumor will lead to earlier bone age, while ovarian hypoplasia (Turner syndrome), chondrodysplasia, pituitary dwarfism, and hypothyroidism will lead to significantly later bone age. Why is bone age a predictor of adult height? There is an extremely close correlation between bone age and child height, and height at each age is highly correlated with height in adulthood, so based on current bone age, it is possible to predict how much taller one is likely to grow. For prediction, the current height and bone age are required to be entered, and for girls, whether they have already had a period or not. Different prediction formulas are then used to calculate adult height. It must be noted that: because there are many factors affecting height, no matter what kind of prediction method is used, the prediction formula cannot take all factors into account, and, after each prediction, many factors such as nutrition, disease, and environment of the predicted subject cannot be predicted, and although these prediction methods have some scientific basis, errors in height prediction are always inevitable. However, the trend reflected by the prediction result is not wrong. What are the causes of short height in children? First, the child is physically short and the bone age is the same as the life age, which is considered normal development; second, the child’s bone age is smaller than the life age, which is the child’s abnormal growth and development, and there are many reasons for this abnormality. Once the cause is determined, the right treatment can be given. Same as short stature as the main manifestation, primary dwarfism, familial hereditary dwarfism, intrauterine growth retardation and somatic pubertal growth retardation, clinical differentiation is difficult, determination of bone age, predicted adult height and combined with medical history can help to diagnose; primary dwarfism, familial hereditary dwarfism have normal bone age and low predicted adult height value, but children with familial hereditary dwarfism have predicted adult height in the The predicted adult height of children with familial dwarfism is within the range of genetic height; intrauterine growth retardation has low bone age and short adult height, which can be diagnosed in early childhood with medical history, and somatic pubertal growth retardation has lagging bone age, which is basically the same as height age and the predicted adult height is not low. What are the methods for children to grow taller? Children’s scientific height increase needs to start with reasonable nutrition, appropriate amount of exercise and sufficient sleep. Eat more vegetables, milk and other foods to ensure adequate nutrition, participate in more sports such as jumping rope, swimming, playing basketball, jogging and running stairs, and ensure sufficient sleep. If you really think your child needs to be taller, you should go to the pediatric department of a regular hospital in time to consult a doctor who will determine whether artificial intervention, i.e. growth hormone therapy, is needed.