Association Between Sphenoid Sinus Dimensions and Cervical VertebraeMaturation in the Timing of Pubertal Growth

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine whether sphenoid sinus dimensions are significantly associated with pubertal growth using cervical vertebrae maturation stages. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study comprising 131 lateral cephalographs (56 males and 75 females) of preorthodontic patients aged 7–18 years (mean age 13.79 ± 3.52 years). Pubertal growth was classified into pre-, circum- and postpubertal stages using the cervical vertebrae maturation stages. Linear measurements of sphenoid sinus width (SSW) and height (SSH) were obtained, and a t-test was used to compare the mean SSW, SSH and sphenoid sinus index (SSI) in relation to sex. One-way ANOVA was used to determine whether there were significant differences in sphenoid sinus measurements across pubertal stages. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the association between sphenoid sinus dimensions and pubertal growth stages. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: In total, only SSW showed statistically significant differences between the various pubertal growth stages (P<0.001).Sphenoid sinus width was significantly different between pre- and circum-pubertal stages in males (P=0.006) and females (P=0.031). In addition, Sphenoid sinus width (SSW) showed a statistically significant positive correlation with the pubertal growth stages (r= 0.350; P<0.001). Conclusion: Overall, this study identified SSW as the only variable that significantly distinguished the various pubertal growth stages. Therefore, sphenoid sinus width could be used as an adjunctive tool in determining the timing of pubertal growth periods in both sexes Keywords: Sphenoid sinus pneumatization, Cervical vertebrae maturation, Pubertal skeletal growth