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Study highlights trend in timing of epiphyseal fusion of bones in hand and wrist among children
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Recently published results noted a trend during the past century in the timing of epiphyseal fusion, in both initiation and completion of the process, for most hand and wrist bones in pediatric patients.
Researchers performed a retrospective, observational study of 1,292 children who participated in the Fels Longitudinal Study. Each patient had one to 39 serial, left hand-wrist radiographs during childhood. Primary outcomes included the chronological age at the first sign of epiphyseal fusion initiation (EF-1) and first chronological age when EF was complete (EF-C) in radius and ulna metacarpals and phalanges of the first, third and fifth rays based on criteria of the Fels method. Investigators used penalized B-splines to model the changes in EF-1 and EF-C ages and to determine changes in continuous birth years with comparisons between children born between 1935 and 1995.
Results showed approximately half of the epiphyses of the hand and wrist demonstrated earlier EF-1 and/or earlier EF-C in children born in 1995 vs. patients born in 1935. In male patients, the age at each milestone decreased 6.7 and 6.8 months, respectively. In female patients, it decreased 9.8 and 9.7 months, respectively. A shift in time was more likely seen in EF of the distal radius, distal ulna and metacarpals compared with EF of the phalanges, where timing remained relatively stable across birth years.– by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosure: The research was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases of the NIH under Award Number R01AR055927 (DLD) with additional historical data being collected under R01HD012252.
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