A study of skeletal age and height in girls with idiopathic scoliosis.

The height and skeletal age of girls with idiopathic scoliosis were studied. The skeletal age was evaluated by two independent methods and was compared with the chronological age and the corrected height of the patients. With both methods the same tendency was noticed. Early in the adolescence (ages 11 and 12 years) the skeletal development was more advanced in girls with idiopathic scoliosis than expected. Later (ages 16 and 17 years) the reverse condition was found. The standing height, corrected for the deformity, was significantly greater in idiopathic scoliosis patients than in controls of either the same chronological or skeletal age. These observations indicate that girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis have a growth pattern differing from normal, and that growth factors are connected to the disease.