Predição da maturação puberal de indivíduos do sexo masculino a partir de variáveis antropométricas

The methods of analysis of the selection system sports talent sometimes do not consider the biological age of the athletes, since that the assessment of maturational moment have several limitations The aim of this work is to develop a predictive equation of pubertal assessment in male subjects, based on anthropometric measurements. We evaluated 206 young boys, aged between eight and 18 years, and studing in public and private schools in Natal, Brazil. The sample selection was done randomly, being used the anthropometric measurements and pubertal maturation evaluation according to the Tanner stages. Statistical analysis followed the presentation of central tendency measures and their derivatives. The inferential analysis was performed according to the ANOVA test, multivariate discriminant analysis and weighted Kappa. The advancement of pubertal stages was accompanied by significant changes in anthropometric variables, demonstrating the relationship presented in both. For this purpose, discriminant analysis selected eight variables with the highest prediction of pubertal maturation, and created an equation with a significance level of 75%. and concordance level of 0.840, considered as excellent. This shows that the prediction of pubertal maturation from anthropometric variables presented as a valid method, being used as a practical tool in sports talents selection