12/31/2023 0 Comments Bone age less than chronological ageThis raises the possibility that bone age might be a useful proxy of pubertal maturity. It has been shown that pubertal hormone levels are correlated more with skeletal system development and bone age than with chronological age 25, 26, 27. The challenge is to identify an indicator that is correlated with adolescent hormonal development, minimally invasive or non-invasive, and, at the same time, is also sensitive enough to identify teenagers who are either advanced or delayed compared to their peers.īone age has been widely used in paediatric practice 23, 24, and it is generally based on hand and wrist X-ray radiographs assessing the size and geometry of the epiphysis and fusion of the epiphysis and diaphysis. ![]() While, e.g., gonadal hormone levels might appear as an apparently good measure of pubertal maturity, those are invasive (require multiple blood tests) and less reliable during the mid-pubertal stages 18. The selection of a useful marker needs to be guided by both scientific precision and reliability, and by minimizing risk and burden for participants. We believe that more objective indicators of biological age, such as gonadal hormone levels 18, metabolic markers 19, genetic indicators 19, skeletal 20, 21 or even dental 22 maturity assessments might be better alternatives to replace Tanner staging in developmental research and serve as biomarkers of pubertal onset and progress. The Harpenden Growth Study 14, 17 involved neglected, many times orphaned children whose participation would not only raise a number of ethical issues today 16, but it is highly questionable whether the Tanner Scale can serve as a reliable and valid standard of developmental stages in the present 15, 16. The Tanner Scale is based on a post-war longitudinal study carried out in the Harpenden children’s home near London, between 19 14, 16. This method is very subjective, it might be unsettling for the subject, and it does not seem to represent contemporary nutritional conditions and secular trends of human growth 3, 13, 15, 16. The gold-standard has been the Tanner Scale 14, 15, 16, which is based on bodily features such as breast and testicle sizes, and other secondary sex characteristics visually assessed by a paediatrician. Additionally, the methods of assessment are mostly outdated, and the dissociation of chronological and biological age has not been addressed clearly. Nevertheless, we can hypothesize that apparent changes in physique reflecting hormonal progress are accompanied by the structural remodelling of the brain 4, 5, 6, 7 and followed by functional advancement 8, 9, 10.Īlthough the variability in the onset of puberty results in discrepancies with respect to developmental trajectories 1, 11, 12, 13, such variability has not been very efficiently controlled for in adolescent research 1, 4, 12. Our current knowledge is limited regarding the correspondence between physical and psychological maturity in adolescence. After the onset of puberty, musculoskeletal, reproductive and neurodevelopmental systems of a child start to transform into those of an adult during a period that is extremely malleable but also vulnerable. This is because adolescent growth and development are not only shaped by the mere passing of time, but they also depend on the timing of puberty onset, which has a large variability across individuals 1, 2, 3. ![]() Based on our findings, bone age is a promising biomarker of adolescent maturity.Įntering a classroom full of first year high-school students is a peculiar experience as we meet pupils who are of the same age, but extremely diverse in terms of stature, behavioural features, social and emotional outlook and even cognitive abilities. We find that biological age has a selective effect on abilities: more mature individuals within the same age group have higher working memory capacity and processing speed, while those with higher chronological age have better verbal abilities, independently of their maturity. Comparing cognitive performance of female participants with different skeletal maturity we uncover the impact of biological age on both IQ and specific abilities. Here we introduce ultrasonic bone age assessment to estimate biological maturity and disentangle the independent effects of chronological and biological age on adolescent cognitive abilities. Although individual variability in puberty onset confounds adolescent studies, it has not been efficiently controlled for. Adolescent development is not only shaped by the mere passing of time and accumulating experience, but it also depends on pubertal timing and the cascade of maturational processes orchestrated by gonadal hormones.
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