Korean J Radiol.  2015 Feb;16(1):201-205. 10.3348/kjr.2015.16.1.201.

Assessment of Bone Age in Prepubertal Healthy Korean Children: Comparison among the Korean Standard Bone Age Chart, Greulich-Pyle Method, and Tanner-Whitehouse Method

• Kim JR
• Lee YS
• Yu J

• KMID: 2070001
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/kjr.2015.16.1.201

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To compare the reliability of the Greulich-Pyle (GP) method, Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method and Korean standard bone age chart (KS) in the evaluation of bone age of prepubertal healthy Korean children.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Left hand-wrist radiographs of 212 prepubertal healthy Korean children aged 7 to 12 years, obtained for the evaluation of the traumatic injury in emergency department, were analyzed by two observers. Bone age was estimated using the GP method, TW3 method and KS, and was calculated in months. The correlation between bone age measured by each method and chronological age of each child was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, scatterplot. The three methods were compared using one-way analysis of variance.
RESULTS
Significant correlations were found between chronological age and bone age estimated by all three methods in whole group and in each gender (R2 ranged from 0.87 to 0.9, p < 0.01). Although bone age estimated by KS was slightly closer to chronological age than those estimated by the GP and TW3 methods, the difference between three methods was not statistically significant (p > 0.01).
CONCLUSION
The KS, GP, and TW3 methods show good reliability in the evaluation of bone age of prepubertal healthy Korean children without significant difference between them. Any are useful for evaluation of bone age in prepubertal healthy Korean children.

Keyword

Bone age; Greulich-Pyle method; Tanner-Whitehouse method; Korean standard bone age chart

MeSH Terms

Age Determination by Skeleton/*methods
Asian Continental Ancestry Group
Child
Emergency Service, Hospital
Female
Hand/*radiography
Humans
Male
Republic of Korea
Wounds and Injuries

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Correlation between chronological age and bone age measured with Greulich-Pyle (GP) method in whole group and in each gender.

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  Fig. 2 Correlation between chronological age and bone age measured with Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method in whole group and in each gender.

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  Fig. 3 Correlation between chronological age and bone age measured with Korean standard bone age chart (KS) in whole group and in each gender.

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