Bone age, referred to as bone age, is determined by the degree of calcification of the bones in children. Because bone age can more accurately reflect the development level of each age stage in the process of human beings from birth to full maturity, it is most widely used in each developmental age. In particular, bone age plays an important role in the analysis and diagnosis of endocrine diseases, developmental disorders, nutritional disorders, hereditary diseases and metabolic diseases.
Using the development inferred from bone age to reflect the state of physical growth and development helps to understand the potential of children's height development. Example: A boy is 12 years old but his bone age is 13 years old, which means that although the boy is only 12 years old, his development rate is relatively fast, and the level of physical development of his body has reached the level of a 13-year-old boy. Because the maturity age of the wrist bone of a Chinese man is about 18.4 years old, the boy will not continue to grow and develop for more than 5.4 years under normal circumstances. If his bone age is 11 years old, it means that he has a slower development rate, only to the level of 11 years old for a normal child, so under normal circumstances, he has 7.4 years left to develop, which can be considered that the boy has greater potential in terms of height growth.
Why do doctors often measure a child's bone age?
The changes in human bone development are basically similar, and the development process of each bone has continuity and stages. Different stages of bone have different morphological characteristics, so bone age assessment can more accurately reflect the growth and development level and maturity of individuals. It can not only determine the biological age of children, but also early understanding of children's growth and development potential and trends in sexual maturity through bone age: bone age can also predict children's adult height, and bone age determination is also very helpful for the diagnosis of some pediatric endocrine diseases. At the same time, it has great guiding significance for the treatment of some short stature patients.