Resumo

IZAGUIRRE DE ESPINOZA¹, Isbelia; MACIAS DE TOMEI, Coromoto; CASTANEDA DE GOMEZ³, Moira  e  MENDEZ CASTELLANO4, Hernán. Atlas de Maduración Osea del venezolano. An Venez Nutr [online]. 2003, vol.16, n.1, pp.23-30. ISSN 0798-0752.

Abstract. In the eighties, Project Venezuela was the name of a specific growth and development research carried out by Fundacredesa. One of the principle objectives of this project was to establish Venezuelan bone maturation reference values. The analysis included 10,313 x-rays of the left hand and wrist. These x-rays were taken of children and adolescents through age 19 from all social strata. Results concluded that the Venezuelans, especially during puberty, show large differences in their bone maturation, the middle and upper class girls had an advanced bone maturation and are considered to be early in their maturation when compared to the international references. These limit their use for evaluation purposes. These results, along with the data of both Project Venezuela and the Longitudinal Study of the Caracas Metropolitan Area, motivated the elaboration of the Venezuelan Child and Adolescent Maturation Atlas. This project shows a series of left hand and wrist x-ray models which have been classified by age and sex. In addition, this document not only demonstrates various maturing indicators that must be present in order to assign an individual a specific bone age, but also, the overall score obtained to be compared with the Venezuelan bone maturity percentils are shown therefore characterizing its maturation rhythm or "tempo". The determination of the bone age is complemented with its application in the clinical practice.

Palavras-chave : Bone age; maturation,; atlas,; maturation indicators,; Venezuelan references; predicted adult height.