Skeletal maturation of children in Okinawa.

A radiological investigation of 115 boys and 149 girls aged 7-15 years on Okinawa Island was undertaken. The skeletal maturation of the hand and wrist was compared with that in Tokyo and Sapporo. For assessing skeletal maturity, the Tanner-Whitehouse-1 (1962) and Kimura (1972) methods were used. The children of Okinawa were somewhat retarded skeletally compared to those of Tokyo in early childhood. However, they matured more rapidly in childhood and at adolescence than children in Tokyo and Sapporo. These facts seem to agree well with the results from the physical measurements.