Skeletal maturity of the hand and wrist in Oaxaca school children

Skeletal maturity of the hand and wrist (Tanner-Whitehouse II system) was assessed in a sample of 394 school children 5 to 18 years of age, in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. The socio-economic background of the sample was relatively poor and the group appeared to have a poor nutritional history (via height and weight measurements). At most ages, the mean skeletal ages of Oaxaca school children are below the British means, and about 60 per cent of the children have skeletal ages below their chronological ages.