Rib‐vertebra angles (RVAs) were measured (T1–12) on the chest radiographs of 412 children aged 0–17 years attending the hospital with minimal disorders or diseases (boys 193, girls 219). A new method for measuring RVAs is used and the asymmetry of rib‐vertebra angles is calculated as rib‐vertebra angle differences (RVADs). The data are analysed in three age groups—infancy, childhood, and puberty, after the classification of Karlberg (1989). The findings show the following:(1) RVAs decrease from T1–12, especially so between (T8 and T12.2) Between infancy and childhood, RVAs of the upper ribs incrase, more so in boys than girls. (3) Between childhood and adolescence there is a further elevation of ribs, involving more ribs in boy than girls (boy T1–10, girls T1–8). (4) Between infancy and childhood, the lower ribs droop more in girls than boys (boys T9–10/12, girls T7/8–12). There is no change in the RVAs of the lower ribs between childhood and puberty in either boys or girls. (5) The hypothesis is suggested that RVAs are influenced by the central nervous system through its influence on trunk muscle activity. (6) Ribvertebra angle asymmetries (or differences, RVADs) are related to age and sex; their pattern reflects the common age, sex, and laterality patterns of idiopathic scoliosis. Extremes of such asymmetries may be an etiological factor for both infantile and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
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Grivas et al. (1992) studied this question.
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