Maturation disparity between hand‐wrist bones in Hong Kong Chinese children

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Abstract
The hand‐wrist radiographs of 571 Chinese boys and girls from Hong Kong, 2 months to 17 years old, were assessed center‐by‐center according to the Greulich‐Pyle Atlas. For each child the mean skeletal ages (SA) of six bone groups with each group consisting of bones from the same rows, were recorded. The overall SA was also obtained as the arithmetic mean of all centers.Maturation disparity between the various bone groups was demonstrated with the two proximal rows (distal radio‐ulna, carpals) more retarded, the two distal rows (middle and distal phalanges) less retarded, and the two middle rows (metacarpals, proximal phalanges) intermediate in maturity. This disparity was especially pronounced during the childhood period and was more marked in boys. Recording SA of separate bone groups in addition to the overall SA was recommended in the presence of significant maturation disparity.The comparison of the present results with the ossification ages of the various hand‐wrist centers in the same group of children determined in a previous study (Lee et al., '68) revealed that the less retarded hand epiphyses of the distal rows had precocious ossification timing, while the more retarded centers of the proximal rows around the wrist had delayed ossification timing relative to the American white children.

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