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Standard bone-age of infants and children in Korea
1Department of Radiology, Seoul National University, Korea.
Insights
This study developed a standard Korean bone-age chart for assessing child and adolescent development. The new chart, based on hand and wrist radiographs, provides a crucial radiological index for clinical use in Korea.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Radiology
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Bone-age assessment using hand and wrist radiographs is a widely adopted method for evaluating developmental status in children and adolescents.
- Existing bone-age charts used in Korea are based on foreign populations, necessitating the development of a localized standard.
- Bone-age reflects hormonal function, chronic disease impact, and is preferred over height-weight-age tables.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a standard Korean bone-age chart for accurate developmental assessment in Korean children and adolescents.
- To provide a culturally specific radiological index for clinical practice.
Main Methods:
- Radiographs of the left hand were collected from approximately 5,400 children nationwide.
- 3,407 radiographs from 1,830 boys and 1,577 girls aged two months to 16 years were analyzed using the TW2-20 method for bone maturity scores.
- The 50th percentile bone maturity scores within 27 age groups were selected as standard bone-ages, with variation ranges determined.
Main Results:
- A dataset of 3,407 hand and wrist radiographs was analyzed to determine bone maturity scores across different age groups.
- Standard bone-ages were established for Korean children and adolescents aged two months to 16 years.
- The study defined the range of chronological age variation for each standard bone-age.
Conclusions:
- A Korean standard bone-age chart has been developed, utilizing the TW2-20 method on a large cohort.
- This chart is expected to serve as a reliable radiological index for evaluating the developmental status of Korean children and adolescents.
- The establishment of a national standard aims to improve the accuracy and relevance of bone-age assessments in clinical settings.
Abstract:
To evaluate the developmental status of children and adolescents, a bone-age chart based on the radiograph of hand and wrist has been used in many countries. Bone-age reflects not only the functional status of various hormones but also the influence of chronic disease and it has been used more widely than other indices such as the height-weight-age table. As a standard bone-age chart has not been established in Korea, a foreign bone-age chart has been used in clinics. To make a Korean standard bone-age chart, we took the radiographs of the left hand of about 5,400 children covering the whole country, and 3,407 radiographs of 1,830 boys and 1,577 girls ranging from two months to 16 years of age were selected and analyzed for bone maturity scores by the TW2-20 method. The range of ages were divided into 27 groups, and the radiographs of 50th percentile score were chosen as the standard bone-ages for the median age of each group. The youngest and oldest chronological age which had the same TW2-20 score of the standard bone-age were decided as the range of variation from the median age. We hope that a Korean standard bone-age chart can be used as the radiological index in the evaluation of the developmental status in Korean children and adolescents.