title: ASSESSMENT OF SOMATIC MATURATION OF VENEZUELAN ADOLESCENTS.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  beginning of adolescence comprises important physical modifications, which affects growth and changes in body composition, therefore it is important to consider maturation assessment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to develop a non-invasive method to assess maturity status in Venezuelan adolescents from peak height velocity (PHV) by means of anthropometric variables in a cross-sectional sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  data comprised 681 Venezuelan adolescents 9 up to 18 years of age. Mirwald equation was applied to derived PHV. Regression analysis was used in order to build a model for Venezuelan sample as well as, ROC curves to assess sensitivity and specificity of anthropometric variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the predictive equations for both sexes, exhibited a high determination coefficient (< 0.99) and a minimal estimation error (0.06). Mean decimal age at categories of PHV obtained by both equations: criterion and model, were very similar (13.27 vs. 13.39) for boys, and (11.62 vs. 11.77) for girls. Bland-Altman plot showed a tight concordance between the two equations and all anthropometric indices, exhibited high area under the curve > 0.75, specially sitting height.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  in Venezuela, there is little work based on longitudinal studies of the maturation status. Giving the difficult faced in the longitudinal studies recent works have been used cross-sectional methodology in the assessment of the somatic maturation, both in non athletic and athletic populations. This study provides predicting equations for the assessment of the somatic maturation adjusted to Venezuelan population developed from Mirwald equation, which may be used to aid in evaluation of nutritional and general health, as well as, a reduction of risks associated with miss-classification for chronological age.
authors.affiliation: Unidad Bioantropología, Actividad Física y Salud. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela.. bioantropologiaucv@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Méndez Pérez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física. Facultad de Biología. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España.. marrodan@ucm.es.
authors.forename: María Dolores
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Marrodán Serrano
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología. Unidad de Antropología. Facultad de Ciencias. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, España.. consuelo.prado@uam.es.
authors.forename: Consuelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prado Martínez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.. jarechigav@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Julieta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aréchiga Viramontes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anatomía y Embriología. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España.. lolacaba@ucm.es.
authors.forename: María Dolores
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cabañas Armesillas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000375:Aging; D001823:Body Composition; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014687:Venezuela