Relationship between Cervical Vertebral Maturation and Chronological Age: A Mixed Longitudinal Study

Authors

Sudhashree Lingam, University of the Pacific
Garima Shrestha, University of the Pacific
Vijaylaxmi Nag, University of the Pacific
Aditi Ghosh, University of the Pacific
Hanisha Pasupulate, University of the Pacific
Heesoo Oh, University of the PacificFollow

Lead Author Affiliation

Bachelor of Dental Surgery

Lead Author Program & Year

Other

Second Author Program & Year

Other

Third Author Program & Year

Other

Fourth Author Program & Year

Other

Fifth Author Program & Year

Other

Sixth Author Program & Year

Faculty/Staff/Researcher

Presentation Category

Research

Introduction/Context/Diagnosis

The cervical vertebrae have been proposed as a method of determining skeletal maturation.This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between chronologic age and the individual skeletal maturity as assessed by means of the cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) method.

Methods/Treatment Plan

Mixed longitudinal data were used. Samples were collected from the Burlington Growth Studies (data obtained between early 1950s and middle 1970s) available on the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF) Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection (www.aaoflegacycollection.org). Subjects with more than four cephalometric radiographs were available between age 7 and 18 years and if cervical vertebrae 2, 3, and 4 were visible in all films were included in this study. The sample consisted of 100 subjects (51 males and 49 females). Four judges evaluated cervical vertebral maturation stages for total of 806 lateral cephalometric radiographs according to the Bechetti and McNamara’s CVM method.

Results/Outcome

The inter-judge agreement on assessment of the CVM was reported as 0.9. Mean chronological ages for CVM3 and CVM4 (peak pubertal growth) were about 12.1±1.6 year and 14.5±1.9 for males and 10.7±1.4 and 12.6 ±1.3 years for females. A positive correlation between mean CVM and chronological age from CS1 through CS6 (r=0.9).

Significance/Conclusions

The present study suggests that the cervical vertebral measurements might be useful for evaluating the stages of skeletal maturation.

Comments/Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the AAOF Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection and NIH/NIDCR: R01 DE024732-01A1

Format

Event