PICOSS study inclusion criteria.

The aim of this review was to summarise the methods used to predict and assess maturity status and timing in adolescent, male, academy soccer players. A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, Medline and SPORTDiscus. Only experimental studies including male, academy players aged U9-U18 years registered with a professional soccer club were included. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using guidelines from the Framework of Potential Biases. Fifteen studies fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Studies were mainly conducted in European countries (n = 12). In total, 4,707 players were recruited across all 15 studies, with an age range of 8–18 years. Five studies were longitudinal, two studies were mixed-method designs and eight studies were cross-sectional. Due to high heterogeneity within the studies, a meta-analysis was not performed. Our findings provided no equivalent estimations of adult height, skeletal age, or age at PHV. Discrepancies were evident between actual and predicted adult height and age at PHV. The Bayley-Pinneau [1952], Tanner-Whitehouse 2 [1983] and Khamis-Roche [1994] methods produced estimates of adult height within 1cm of actual adult height. For age at PHV, both Moore [2015] equations produced the closest estimates to actual age at PHV, and the Fransen [2018] equation correlated highly with actual age at PHV (>90%), even when the period between chronological age and age at PHV was large. Medical imaging techniques (e.g., Magnetic Resonance Imaging, X-Ray, Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry) demonstrated high intra/inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.83–0.98) for skeletal maturity assessments. The poor concordance between invasive and non-invasive methods, is a warning to practitioners to not use these methods interchangeably for assessing maturational status and timing in academy soccer players. Further research with improved study designs is required to validate these results and improve our understanding of these methods when applied in this target population.

本综述旨在总结用于预测和评估青少年男子青训足球运动员（academy soccer players）成熟状态与时间节点的相关方法。我们在PubMed、Scopus、Web of Science、CINAHL、Medline及SPORTDiscus数据库中开展了系统性检索，仅纳入由职业足球俱乐部注册的U9至U18岁男子青训足球运动员参与的实验性研究。采用《潜在偏倚框架》指南对纳入研究的方法学质量进行评价。最终共有15项研究符合纳入标准，其中12项研究在欧洲开展（n=12）。15项研究总计纳入4707名球员，年龄范围为8至18岁，其中5项为纵向研究，2项采用混合方法设计，8项为横断面研究。由于纳入研究间异质性较高，未开展元分析（meta-analysis）。本研究未得到与成人身高、骨骼年龄或青春期快速生长峰值（peak height velocity, PHV）等效的估算值，实际成人身高与预测成人身高、实际青春期快速生长峰值年龄与预测年龄之间存在显著差异。Bayley-Pinneau[1952]、Tanner-Whitehouse 2[1983]及Khamis-Roche[1994]三种方法得出的成人身高估算值与实际成人身高的差值在1cm以内。针对青春期快速生长峰值年龄，Moore[2015]提出的两种方程得到的估算值与实际值最为接近；Fransen[2018]提出的方程与实际青春期快速生长峰值年龄的相关性极高（>90%），即便实足年龄与青春期快速生长峰值年龄的间隔较大时亦是如此。医学成像技术（如磁共振成像（Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI）、X线、双能X线吸收法（Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry, DXA））用于骨骼成熟度评估时，具备较高的组内/组间信度（ICC=0.83~0.98）。侵入性与非侵入性方法间一致性较差，这提示从业者不可互换使用此类方法评估青训足球运动员的成熟状态与时间节点。未来需开展研究设计更完善的相关研究，以验证本研究结果，并加深对这些方法应用于该目标人群时的理解。