1.What is skeletal age and skeletal age standard?
Bone age is the abbreviation of 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 to a large extent the true developmental level of the child, so it is more accurate to use bone age to determine the maturity of the human body than the actual age. Clinically, when the skeletal maturity of an individual is compared with the standard atlas, and the skeletal maturity is equal to the standard atlas of a certain age, the age is the skeletal age, and it is the indicator to determine the bone maturity.
2.Why should the bone age of children be measured frequently?
The changes of human bone development are basically similar, and the development process of each bone has continuity and stages. Bones at different stages have different morphological characteristics, therefore, bone age assessment can reflect more accurately the growth and development level 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.
3.Why can bone age reflect the height potential of children?
Skeletal age, or bone age for short, is determined by the degree of bone calcification in children. Because bone age can more accurately reflect the level of development at each age in the process of human from birth to full maturity, it is most widely used in each developmental age. 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 to infer the 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 faster and his body has reached the level of physical development of a 13-year-old boy. Since the age of wrist bone maturity for 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 old, it means that his development is slower and only developed to the level of a normal child of 11 years old, so under normal circumstances his remaining development time is still 7.4 years can be considered that the latter has greater potential in height growth.
4.What is the relationship between bone age and age and maturity?
The relationship between bone age and actual age can be shown by the bone age difference. That is, the difference between actual age and bone age 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 bone age increase is greater than the rate of height growth, the epiphysis will heal earlier and the growth period will be shorter, resulting in lower adult height.
5.When does the epiphysis of adolescents usually close?
Generally, girls are at the age of 16 or 17 and boys are at the age of 18 or 19. Girls develop fastest at the age of 11-15 years old during puberty, and boys develop fastest at the age of 12-16 years old. Puberty is the fastest growing period in a lifetime, and spring is the fastest growing period in a year.
6.If the child’s epiphysis is closed, what can be done to open it again?
If the epiphysis is really closed after the doctor’s diagnosis, there is no way to open the closed epiphysis at the current medical level, and we hope not to believe the false advertisements in the market to avoid being deceived and causing unnecessary losses.