The dynamics of the process of synostosing and the timing of its completion in the tubular bones of the distal upper limb in children and adolescents in Tajikistan

The increase in the dynamics of migration processes actualizes the need for the accumulation of diagnostic data on the formation of the skeletal system in individuals of different nationalities and ethnic groups arriving from regions with different climatic conditions. The aim of the study was to study in a comparative aspect the dynamics and timing of the completion of synostosing of the tubular bones of the distal upper limb in children and adolescents in Tajikistan. We studied 259 radiographs of the right hand in children and adolescents of both sexes of Tajik nationality at the age of 6-17 years. The degree of ossification was determined according to the 6-point system proposed by Boris Nikityuk: 0 points - the metaepiphyseal zone is open with a cavity, 1 point - the beginning of synostosis, less than half of the zone is closed, 2 points - the process of synostosis covers from half to 2/3 of the growth zone, 3 points - synostosis takes up almost the entire metaepiphyseal zone, 4 points - synostosis is completed, the area of sclerosed bone is preserved in the form of a light strip on the roentgenogram, 5 points - the zone of sclerosis at the site of the metaepiphyseal line is completely absent. For each age, the mean score for the degree of synostosis was calculated. The process of synostosing in the distal epiphyses of the bones of the forearm was completed in girls at the age of 16, in boys at the age of 17. In girls, the completion of synostosing in the metacarpal bones and phalanges of the fingers of the hand was determined at the age of 16 years, in males a year later. The study made it possible to establish the heterochronism of the ossification process in children and adolescents of different sexes. Tajik girls, on average, are one year ahead of boys in terms of the completion of synostosing of the tubular bones of the hand. The absence of a completed process of synostosing in the phalanges of the fingers of a Tajik girl makes it possible to predict that her age is under 16 years old. The incomplete process of ossification in the phalanges of the hand in males in Tajikistan indicates an age younger than 17 years.