title: Appraisal of bone maturity age derived from broadband ultrasonic attenuation in Japanese children and adolescents.
abstract: It is clinically important to evaluate the level of skeletal maturation in juveniles to determine the appropriate timing for orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the age of bone maturity by using an ultrasonic bone analyzer (Cuba Clinical, McCue Ultrasonics Ltd., Winchester, U.K.), Broadband ultrasonic attenuation (BUA:dB/MHz) was measured at the left calcaneus as an effective indicator of the age of bone maturity. The subjects consisted of 249 males and 304 females aged 12 to 29 years who had not suffered constitutional bone disease or a disease of the endocrine system. The peak value of BUA considered as bone maturity was 104.44 at the age of 19 years in males and 77.80 at the age of 16 years in females, and the peak age range was indicated as 18-19 years in males and 13-16 years in females by statistical evaluation. The peak age range indicated by BUA was wider in females than that in males. The present results can be used as reference ages for maturity in growth prediction for orthodontic treatment of Japanese children and adolescents. The heights and weights of the subjects were also collected as basic data. A significant positive correlation was observed between BUA values and weight (r = 0.34 p < 0.01 in females, r = 0.52 p < 0.01 in males). BUA is known to describe the quality of bone because the calcaneus is a loading bone. The relation between bone quality and growth has not been discussed. Further research is required to investigate this relationship.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Tokyo Dental College, 1-2-2 Masago, Mihama-ku, Chiba 261-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Mio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Motegi
authors.forename: Utako
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Soejima
authors.forename: Mayumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Fumie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Sumie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: Hideharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D044466:Asian People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002111:Calcaneus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000254:growth & development; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014463:Ultrasonography