The Uniform Pattern of Growth and Skeletal Maturation during the Human Adolescent Growth Spurt.

ABSTRACT: Humans are one of the few species undergoing an adolescent growth spurt. Because children enter the spurt at different ages making age a poor maturity measure, longitudinal studies are necessary to identify the growth patterns and identify commonalities in adolescent growth. The standard maturity determinant, peak height velocity (PHV) timing, is difficult to estimate in individuals due to diurnal, postural, and measurement variation. Using prospective longitudinal populations of healthy children from two North American populations, we compared the timing of the adolescent growth spurt's peak height velocity to normalized heights and hand skeletal maturity radiographs. We found that in healthy children, the adolescent growth spurt is standardized at 90% of final height with similar pattern

SUBMITTER: Sanders JO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5711808 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature