Comparison of Ages of Epiphyseal Union in North American and Bosnian Skeletal Material

Abstract

The accurate determination of age at death is a critical component in the analysis of human skeletal remains. Population specific techniques are often used without due consideration of the provenance of the material being studied. This communication considers the ages at which epiphyseal union occur in young Bosnian males and compares those findings to data published by McKern and Stewart on young North American soldiers killed during the Korean War. Of the ten epiphyses considered in this study, all elements were observed to be at least two years in advance in the Bosnian sample compared to the American sample. This article demonstrates that whilst standards based on an American sample produce broadly applicable age ranges for use on forensic work in the Balkans, the age ranges generated produce an upper age limit that is often two or more years older than the chronological age. Therefore, it is desirable, that wherever possible, appropriate standards should be devised for more accurate aging reflecting population specific profiles.

Radiological assessment of age from epiphyseal fusion at the knee joint

“…The studies of McKern and Stewart, [24] Schaefer and Black [10] and O'Connor et al [14] are the most similar in methodology to our study, and our results were com- pared with theirs. These studies were conducted in United States, Bosnia and Ireland respectively.…”

“…This is similar to the current study which records ages for recent union as 14.1 years for the femur and tibia and 16.1 years for the fibula. However, McKern and Stewart [24] and Schaefer and Black [10] reported older ages by comparison. The upper value of the age range for recent union in this study which is 18.5 years, does, however fall within the limit reported by the other three authors.…”

“…The results of previous studies from Britain, America, Australia, India and our study in Nigeria are shown in Table 4. [10,14,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] …”

“…According to previous studies, differences exist in the timing of epiphyseal union between individuals from different populations. [9,10] Eveleth and Tanner [11] attribute the differences to population variability, climate, nutrition, secular change in growth or to simply lack of standardized methodology. In other parts of the world, the hand-wrist region has received the greatest attention in assessment of skeletal maturation compared to other areas.…”

Bone Age Determination of Epiphyseal Union Around Wrist Joint and its Correlation with Chronological Age: A Radiological Study in a Jordanian Population

“…After puberty the process of growth in length of the long bones stops at different ages in different parts of different long bones, which is complete by the age of 22 years as described by various authors 3,4 . It is clear that the timing of epiphyseal union is fairly constant with minor variations among different study groups of different geographic areas 5,6 . The minor differences in the age of fusion could be due to effects of changes in climate, economic, hereditary, dietetic conditions 7,8 or simply lack of standardized methodology.…”