Applicability of two commonly used bone age assessment methods to twenty-first century UK children

To assess the effect of secular change on skeletal maturation and thus on the applicability of the Greulich and Pyle (G&P) and Tanner and Whitehouse (TW3) methods.

BoneXpert was used to assess bone age from 392 hand trauma radiographs (206 males, 257 left). The paired sample t test was performed to assess the difference between mean bone age (BA) and mean chronological age (CA). ANOVA was used to assess the differences between groups based on socioeconomic status (taken from the Index of Multiple Deprivation).

CA ranged from 2 to 15 years for females and 2.5 to 15 years for males. Numbers of children living in low, average and high socioeconomic areas were 216 (55%), 74 (19%) and 102 (26%) respectively. We found no statistically significant difference between BA and CA when using G&P. However, using TW3, CA was underestimated in females beyond the age of 3 years, with significant differences between BA and CA (- 0.43 years, SD 1.05, p = < 0.001) but not in males (0.01 years, SD 0.97, p = 0.76). Of the difference in females, 17.8% was accounted for by socioeconomic status.

No significant difference exists between BoneXpert-derived BA and CA when using the G&P atlas in our study population. There was a statistically significant underestimation of BoneXpert-derived BA compared with CA in females when using TW3, particularly in those from low and average socioeconomic backgrounds. Secular change has not led to significant advancement in skeletal maturation within our study population.

• The Greulich and Pyle method can be applied to the present-day United Kingdom (UK) population. • The Tanner and Whitehouse (TW3) method consistently underestimates the age of twenty-first century UK females by an average of 5 months. • Secular change has not advanced skeletal maturity of present-day UK children compared with those of the mid-twentieth century.