A factor analysis of cranial base and vault dimensions in children

Lengths within the cranial base and vault were measured in cephalometric radiographs of 220 boys and 177 girls ranging in age from 0 to 15 years; all these children are participants in The Fels Longitudinal Growth Study. The present study is based on mixed longitudinal data derived from 1640 radiographs for boys and 1260 radiographs for girls. Factor analysis was applied separately for boys and girls for each age group; i.e., 0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and 13-15 years. For the 0-3 year age group, two factors were extracted in each sex, whereas four factors were extracted in the rest of the age groups. The factor structures are similar in the three older age groups of boys (7-9, 10-12, and 13-15 years). The first four factors for these groups are labelled, respectively: cranial vault size, posterior cranial base length, presphenoid length, and basisphenoid length. The order of the third and fourth factors is reversed in the 7-9 year olds. For girls, the factors extracted were also the same in both the 7-9 and 10-12 year age groups, even though the order of factors was different between age groups; i.e., anterior cranial base length, cranial vault size, basisphenoid length, and basioccipital length. Differential growth rates among cranial base dimensions probably cause changes in factor patterns. Obliteration of the spheno-occipital synchondrosis is suggested as the mechanism responsible for the change of factor pattern in the girls. closure of this synchondrosis would have occurred too late to affect the patterns in boys.