Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Sousa-E-Silva, Paulo
• Coelho-E-Silva, Manuel J
• Celis-Moreno, Jorge M
• Costa, Daniela C
• Martinho, Diogo V
• Ribeiro, Luís P
• Oliveira, Tomas
• Gonçalves-Santos, João
• Tavares, Oscar M
• Castanheira, Joaquim M
• Pereira, Telmo
• Conde, Jorge
• Cayolla, Ricardo R
• Duarte-Mendes, Pedro
• Myburgh, Gillian K
• Cumming, Sean P
• Malina, Robert M

Titel

Intra-observer reproducibility and inter-observer agreement of Fels skeletal age assessments among male tennis players 8-16 years

Ist Teil von

• BMC pediatrics, 2023-04, Vol.23 (1), p.196-196, Article 196

Ort / Verlag

England: BioMed Central Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Skeletal age (SA) is an estimate of biological maturity status that is commonly used in sport-related medical examinations. This study considered intra-observer reproducibility and inter-observer agreement of SA assessments among male tennis players. SA was assessed with the Fels method in 97 male tennis players with chronological ages (CA) spanning 8.7-16.8 years. Radiographs were evaluated by two independent trained observers. Based on the difference between SA and CA, players were classified as late, average or early maturing; if a player was skeletally mature, he was noted as such as an SA is not assigned. The magnitude of intra-individual differences between repeated SA assessments were d = 0.008 year (observer A) and d = 0.001 year (observer B); the respective coefficients of variation were 1.11% and 1.75%. Inter-observer mean differences were negligible (t = 1.252, p = 0.210) and the intra-class correlation coefficient was nearly perfect (ICC = 0.995). Concordance of classifications of players by maturity status between observers was 90%. Fels SA assessments were highly reproducible and showed an acceptable level of inter-observer agreement between trained examiners. Classifications of players by skeletal maturity status based on assessments of the two observers were highly concordant, though not 100%. The results highlight the importance of experienced observers in skeletal maturity assessments.