Assessment of Reliability of Greulich and Pyle (GP) Method for Determination of Age of Children at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, East Gojjam Zone

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Greulich and Pyle standards are the most widelyused age estimation standards all over the world. The applicabilityof the Greulich and Pyle standards to populations which differfrom their reference population is often questioned. This studyaimed to assess the reliability of Greulich and Pyle (GP) methodfor determination of age of children at Debre Markos ReferralHospital, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia.SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Hospital based cross sectionalstudy design was applied to children who came to Debre MarkosReferral Hospital from May to October 2015 and fulfilled theinclusion criteria of the study. The data was analyzed using SPSSversion 20 and medcalc version 15 softwares. Significance was setat α = 0.05.RESULTS: A total of 108 radiographs were analyzed.Chronological age in most of the children was under estimated.The mean under-estimation was 11.8 months in the female sampleand 8.7 months in the male sample. Greulich and Pyle methodbecame inapplicable for the sample at 16 years for females and16.5 years for males and later. Delay in skeletal maturation wasobserved in both sexes, but the females in the sample maturedearlier than the males.CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest against theapplicability of GP atlas which were not directly applicable to anEast Gojjam Zone population. Large scale studies should beplanned and nationwide guideline, and atlas which can easily beused throughout the country should be developed.