title: Lumbar vertebral canal size in adults and children: observations from a skeletal sample from London, England.
abstract: The morphometry of the lumbar vertebral canal is of importance to clinical and bioarchaeological researchers, yet there are no growth standards for its diameters and there is a disagreement over the age at which its development is complete. Direct measurements of the midsagittal and interpedicular diameters of the lumbar vertebral canal (L1-L5) were taken from 65 children (3-17 years) and 120 adults (>17 years) from the East Smithfield Black Death cemetery, London (1348-1350 CE) to discover the age at which these diameters reached their final adult size in an historical population from later mediaeval London. Children were grouped into age categories: 3-5 years; 6-10 years; 11-14 years; 15-17 years, and the group means of each diameter were compared with the mean adult diameters using one-way ANOVAs. The child midsagittal diameters were not significantly different from adults in any age category, indicating that this diameter reached adult size by 3-5 years of age. However, interpedicular diameters increased with age until 15-17 years when they reached full adult size. Mean diameters and percentiles (10th and 90th) are provided for each age category.
authors: Department of Archaeology, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AB, United Kingdom. r.watts@pgr.reading.ac.uk
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Watts
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D010163:Paleontology; D013115:Spinal Canal / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development