Skeletal Maturity of Youths 12-17 Years: Racial, Geographic Area, and Socioeconomic Differentials, United States, 1966-1970

摘要

The report presents national estimates of the levels of hand-wrist skeletal maturity among noninstitutionalized youths age 12-17 years in the United States, by race, geographic area of residence, and socioeconomic background, based on findings from the Health Examination Survey of 1966-1970. The previous report on these radiographic findings among youths, contains a more comprehensive description of the nature of skeletal maturation among youths and of the assessment method used in the survey. Both the findings in these two reports on skeletal maturity among youths age 12-17 years and those from the corresponding reports among children age 6-11 years are the first national estimates of skeletal maturity levels made for these age groups in this or any other country. These studies provide estimates of known reliability against which present assessments of children and youths can be compared and possible future changes in skeletal maturation rates, for the country as a whole, can be judged.