PREDICTION OF ADULT STATURE AND NONINVASIVE ASSESSMENT OF BIOLOGICAL MATURATION

The Tanner-Whitehouse method to predict adult stature uses current sta ture, current skeletal age (SA), and chronological age (CA), and, if a vailable, change (gain) in stature and SA over the previous year. Sinc e assessment of SA requires invasive techniques; a method is proposed to predict adult stature noninvasively and to use percentage of adult stature as a maturity indicator. Age-specific multiple regression equa tions were calculated in a sample of 102 Flemish boys 13 through 16 yr who were followed during adolescence and remeasured at 30 yr of age. The proposed procedure, the Beunen-Malina method for prediction of adu lt stature, includes four somatic dimensions (current stature, sitting height, subscapular skinfold, triceps skinfold) and CA. In this age r ange multiple correlations (Rs between 0.70 and 0.87) and SEEs (betwee n 3.0 and 4.2 cm) compare favorably with the original Tanner-Whitehous e method. Furthermore, when maturity groups based on percentage of adu lt stature calculated from the Beunen-Malina predictions are contraste d for somatic dimensions and performance characteristics, differences are similar to those observed when maturity grouping is based on skele tal maturity.