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We have provided evidence of secular increases in stature and acceleration of skeletal maturation in Australian male children and young adults in recent decades, and relatively less prominent secular increases in stature in females.Our aims were to construct new references for stature and skeletal age in Australians.We conducted a cross-sectional study of 2,497 South Australians, comprising 1,255 males and 1,242 females aged between 9 and 18 years. Clinical records obtained from 1995 to 2005 comprised stature, chronological and skeletal ages of these individuals. Means and standard deviations for stature and skeletal age were visually smoothed for each sex to construct growth charts depicting the 97th, 90th, 75th, 50th, 25th, 10th and 3rd centiles.Comparisons of the new stature references with the NHMRC (1975) charts indicated an upward shift of stature centiles across all age groups in both sexes by around 4-5 cm. Generally, skeletally advanced individuals tended to be taller, and skeletally delayed individuals tended to be shorter compared with the total sample in younger age groups, but this was less apparent in older age groups. Males aged 9 years in our study were skeletally advanced, on average, by 0.4 years, whereas males aged 17 years were skeletally delayed, on average, by 0.3 years compared with the Greulich and Pyle (1959) standards. In contrast, skeletal and chronological ages were concordant in females.Our new references for stature and skeletal age provide up-to-date information for orthodontists, paedodontists and paediatricians requiring growth data for young Australians.

Assessment of growth and maturation in humans has implications in the diagnosis and treatment of growth disorders and in determining timing of orthopaedic interventions.Our aims were to investigate whether there was evidence of recent secular changes in stature and skeletal maturation in Australians, and to report any association between these parameters.The cross-sectional study sample comprised 5,122 South Australian children and young adults, including 2,601 males and 2,521 females aged between 9 and 18 years. Records obtained from 1987 to 2005 included chronological age, stature and skeletal age in these individuals. Centiles for stature were calculated using the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) growth references published in 1975. Stature was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm and the developmental stages of strategic ossification centres on hand-wrist radiographs were evaluated using the Greulich and Pyle (1959) atlas method.Average values for stature were consistently greater in the 1995-2005 cohort compared with the 1987-94 cohort for both sexes, although secular increases in females were less prominent compared with males. Males in the 1995-2005 cohort were also skeletally advanced when compared with their counterparts in the 1987-94 cohort, but this trend was not evident in females. There were significant associations between stature and skeletal maturation, with the strongest associations being noted around puberty in both sexes and progressively weaker associations in older age groups.Our findings indicate secular increases in stature in Australian children and young adults of both sexes over the past few decades, and acceleration of skeletal maturation in males.