Evaluation of bone age of wrist-hand in adolescent of Shenyang and Beijing

Objective: To investigate bone age of left-hand wrist in healthy adolescents of Shenyang and Beijing for assessing the process of skeletal development. Methods: From 2008 to 2012, 1333 adolescents (aged form 4.0 to 18.0 ys) of Shenyang and Beijing were enrolled in this study. Skeletal age was estimated by left hand and wrist X-ray using CHN atlas by 2 qualified radiologists. The correlation between skeletal and chronological age was analyzed using correlation analysis. Skeletal age and chronological age were compared using paired t test. The differences between skeletal and chronological age in genders and regions were compared using independent-samples l test. SPSS for Windows (version 13.0) was used for statistical analysis. P < 0.05 was considered as significant difference. Results: (1) Close correlation was found between skeletal age and chronological age (P < 0.01) for both two genders and two regions. (2) Among 28 groups of investigation, 16 groups (boys, 11 groups) had higher skeletal ages than chronological ages with statistical significance, including Shenyang boys aged 6.0-18.0 ys, Shenyang girls aged 6.0-7.9 ys and 14.0-15.9 ys, Beijing boys at 6.0-15.9 ys and Beijing girls at 8.0-13.9 ys. (3) Comparison between boys and girls: 5 groups showed significant difference, including 8.0-9.9 ys, 10.0-11.9 ys and 16.0-18.0 ys groups in Shenyang and 6.0-1.9 ys, 10.0-11.9 ys groups in Beijing. (4) Comparison between Shenyang and Beijing: 6 groups showed statistical significance, including boys at 10.0-11.9 ys, 12.0-13.9 ys and 16.0-17.9 ys and girls at 6.0-1.9 ys, 8.0-9.9 ys and 10.0-11.9 ys. Conclusion: Although CHN atlas method could reflect adolescent bone development, the skeletal age is higher than chronological age in many groups, and the difference between skeletal and chronological age is statistically different between genders and between two regions. This research can be used as a reference for the study of skeletal development and for further emendation of CHN atlas. (authors)