Growth pattern and skeletal age in school girls with idiopathic scoliosis.

The growth patterns in girls ten to 16 years of age with idiopathic structural scoliosis are different from the growth patterns of normal girls of the same age group. Overall standing and sitting heights were 5 cm and 2 cm greater, respectively, in 207 scoliotic as compared with 210 randomly selected, age-matched healthy girls. Hand and wrist radiographs revealed an advanced skeletal age in scoliotic girls at ten years of age, whereas subsequent skeletal development was more rapid in healthy girls.