Growth of the second metacarpal according to chronological age and skeletal maturation.

In relation to chronological age and skeletal maturation, the growth of the second metacarpal is discussed based on radiographs of the right hand and wrist in 499 male and 424 female Japanese aged 1 to 18 years. When plotted against age, bone length and width present the general growth pattern of Scammon, the adolescent spurt occurring at about 13 years in the males and 11 years in the females, and the mean values are significantly larger in the males than in the females at age 15 years for length, and age 13 years for width, and later. The growth curves of both sexes are almost parallel to each other for bone length plotted against skeletal maturation. Bone width progresses in parallel in males and females until about adolescence, whereafter there is a more rapid increase in growth in the males than in the females. The mean values for length and width are almost always significantly greater in the males than in the females. The width/length index decreases rapidly until a certain period, the minimum value being at about ten years or a maturity corresponding to that age, and then increase slightly again to reach an equilibrium state on the basis of both age and skeletal maturation. At any given age, the mean values are always greater in the males than in the females. However, according to skeletal maturation, the sex differences are steadily significant at and after the skeletal maturity corresponding to about 12 years in the males and 10 years in the females.