What is skeletal age and the standard of skeletal age?
Bone age is the abbreviation for skeletal age, which is a developmental age obtained by comparing the actual development of a child’s bones with the standard developmental level. Bone age represents the true developmental level of children to a large extent, so it is more accurate to use bone age to determine the maturity of the human body than the actual age. Huang Ke, Department of Endocrinology, Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, has compared the skeletal maturity of an individual with a standard chart, and when the skeletal maturity corresponds to the standard chart of a certain age, that age is the skeletal age.
Why do doctors always determine the bone age of children?
The changes in human bone development are basically similar, with each bone developing in a continuous and stage-specific process. Bones at different stages have different morphological characteristics, therefore, bone age assessment can reflect more accurately the level of growth and maturity of an individual. It not only can determine the biological age of children, but also can understand the growth potential of children and the trend of sexual maturity through bone age at an early stage: the adult height of children 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. It is also a great guide for the treatment of some patients with short stature.
Why can bone age reflect the height potential of children?
Bone age, or skeletal age for short, is determined by the degree of calcification of a child’s bones. Because bone age can more accurately reflect the level of development at all ages of a person’s life from birth to full maturity, it is most widely used in all developmental ages. In particular, bone age plays a more important role in the analysis and diagnosis of endocrine diseases, developmental disorders, nutritional disorders, hereditary diseases and metabolic diseases.
The use of bone age inferred development, thus reflecting the state of physical growth and development, helps to understand the potential of children’s height development. Example: A boy is 12 years old but his bone age is 13 years old, which indicates that although the boy is only 12 years old, he is developing at a faster rate and his body has reached the level of physical development of a 13-year-old boy.
Because the age of maturity of the wrist bone in Chinese men is about 18.4 years, the boy would normally continue to grow and develop for no more than 5.4 years. And if his bone age is 11 years, it means that he is developing at a slower rate, only to the level of a normal child of 11 years, so normally he has 7.4 years of development remaining to consider that the girl has more potential in terms of height growth.
How does bone age relate to age and maturity?
The relationship between bone age and actual age can be shown by the bone age difference. This is the difference between actual age and bone age, which is also the specific number of years between the two. If the difference between the actual age and the bone age is positive, the bone age is behind the age; if the bone age difference is negative, the bone age is ahead of the age. Usually, ±2 years is the normal range of bone age difference, where a bone age difference of ±1 year is normal. When the rate of increase in bone age is greater than the rate of height growth, the epiphysis will heal earlier and the growth period will be shorter, resulting in a decrease in adult height.
When do adolescents generally close their bones?
Generally, girls are 16 or 17 years old and boys are 18 or 19 years old. Girls grow fastest at the age of 11-15 during puberty, and boys grow fastest at the age of 12-16. Puberty is the fastest growing period in a lifetime, and spring is the fastest growing period of the year.
Parents are especially reminded that adolescents in this age group: 1. Check hair or blood tests to detect whether there is a deficiency of trace elements calcium, zinc, iron …… 2. Pay attention to many aspects of nutrition.
3, drink milk before going to bed.
If my child’s bone age has closed can there be any way to open it again?
First of all, we need to clarify whether you have been consulted and diagnosed by a specialist in a regular hospital, if it is said that after the doctor’s diagnosis, the child’s bone age is really closed, then it can be said that there is no way to make the closed bone age open again, and I hope you do not believe in the market false advertising to avoid being deceived and causing unnecessary losses.