title: A methodology to measure cervical vertebral bone maturation in a sample from low-income children.
abstract: This study evaluated the applicability of the regression method for determining vertebral age developed by Caldas et al. (2007) by testing this method in children from low-income families of the rural zone. The sample comprised cephalometric and hand-wrist radiographs of 76 boys and 64 girls aged 7.0 to 14.9 years living in a medium-sized city in the desert region of the northeastern region of Brazil, with an HDI of 0.678. C3 and C4 vertebrae were traced and measured on cephalometric radiographs to estimate the bone age. The average age, average hand-wrist age and average error estimated for girls and boys were, respectively, 10.62 and 10.44 years, 11.28 and 10.57 years, and 1.42 and 1.18 years. Based on these results, the formula proposed by Caldas et al. (2007) was not applicable to the studied population, and new multiple regression models were developed to obtain the children's vertebral bone age accurately.
authors: Department of Oral Radiology; Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil.
authors: Luciana Barreto Vieira
authors: LB
authors: Aguiar
authors: Maria de Paula
authors: Mde P
authors: Caldas
authors: Francisco
authors: F
authors: Haiter Neto
authors: Glaucia Maria Bovi
authors: GM
authors: Ambrosano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D000465:Algorithms; D001846:Bone Development; D001938:Brazil; D002348:Carpal Bones / Q000254:growth & development; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors