Comparison of statural height growth velocity at different cervical vertebral maturation stages.

INTRODUCTION: Knowledge of a patient's stage of growth and development plays a vital role in diagnosis, treatment planning, results, and stability of the outcome. Cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) predicts the stage of growth and development, but its validity has only been investigated restrospectively, using historic samples. Our objective was to assess prospectively whether a correlation exists between CVM stage and statural height growth velocity. METHODS: Participants were aged between 8 and 18 years and of both sexes. Standing height was measured every 6 weeks with participants barefoot and in natural head position. CVM stage was assessed from lateral cephalograms taken at the start of treatment. Intraobserver and interobserver reliability of CVM staging and statural height measurements were assessed using the Cohen weighted kappa, percentage of agreement, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman plots, respectively. Analysis of variance was used to test for statistically significant differences between growth velocities at the CVM stages. RESULTS: We analyzed 108 participants. The peak in statural height growth velocity occurred at CVM stage 3 (P = 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in the mean annualized growth velocity between all CVM stages except stages 2 and 4. Girls had their peak pubertal growth spurt an average of 1.2 years earlier than did boys. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that there is a significant relationship between CVM stage and statural height velocity.