title: Short-term secular change in height, body mass and Tanner-Whitehouse 3 skeletal maturity of Madeira youth, Portugal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Secular trends in height and weight are reasonably well documented in Europe. Corresponding observations for skeletal maturation are lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess secular trends in height, body mass and skeletal maturity of Portuguese children and adolescents and to provide updated reference values for skeletal maturity scores (SMSs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for 2856 children and adolescents of 4-17 years, 1412 boys and 1444 girls, from The 'Madeira Growth Study' (MGS; 1996-1998) and from the'Healthy Growth of Madeira Children Study' (CRES; 2006) were used. Height and body mass were measured. Skeletal maturity was assessed with the Tanner-Whitehouse 2 and 3 methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children from CRES were taller and heavier than peers from MGS. Differences in height reached 5.8 cm in boys and 5.5 cm in girls. RUS SMSs did not differ consistently between surveys boys, while higher RUS scores were observed in CRES girls. Adult RUS SMSs for MGS and CRES combined were attained at 15.8 years in boys and 14.8 years in girls. Corresponding ages for adult Carpal SMSs were 14.4 and 14.0, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The short-term trends for height and mass were not entirely consistent with the trends in RUS and Carpal SMSs and SAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. dfreitas@uma.pt
authors.forename: Duarte
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Malina
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lefevre
authors.forename: Mikis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stasinopoulos
authors.forename: Élvio
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Gouveia
authors.forename: Albrecht
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Claessens
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomis
authors.forename: Berthold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lausen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000502:physiology*; D002348:Carpal Bones / Q000254:growth & development; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011174:Portugal; D011884:Radius / Q000254:growth & development; D012016:Reference Values; D018401:Sample Size; D013997:Time Factors; D014457:Ulna / Q000254:growth & development