Reconsidering osteoarthritis as a skeletal indicator of age at death

Abstract

Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) generally increases with age, but it is a complex, multifactorial disease. This study investigated whether obesity, physical activity, and antemortem trauma preclude the use of OA for skeletal age estimation. Materials and Methods:The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and all appendicular joints were scored for skeletal indicators of OA in 408 modern European-Americans (Bass Collection, TN). Binomial generalized linear models (GLMs) assessed the contributions of self-reported demographic data to OA, including: age; body mass index (BMI); and metabolic values for physical activities. Repeated resampling tested whether observed mean OA scores for joints with trauma consistently exceeded mean scores for unaffected joints. Single-variable GLM probit models were generated for OA presence/absence data in relevant joints.Results: Age was the only statistically significant predictor of OA in most multivariable GLMs. Occupation and age were both significant predictors of male hand OA;BMI was the only significant predictor of female ankle OA. Trauma significantly affected OA in most joints. Age cut-offs calculated from the single-variable probit models (representing ages of transition to "OA present") ranged from 29.7 to 77.3 years (90%) and 32.7 to 96.6 years (95%), but were problematic for the male TMJ.Discussion: Ankle OA should not be used to age females; TMJ OA should not be used to age males. For other joints, using OA to inform age estimates appears valid (in absence of antemortem trauma). While skeletal evidence of OA is not a primary age indicator, its presence can refine age ranges and provide essential age data in fragmentary cases.K E Y W O R D S activity, age estimation, joint degeneration, obesity, trauma

Adult Skeletal Age-at-Death Estimation through Deep Random Neural Networks: A New Method and Its Computational Analysis

“…One striking remark from this experiment was the performance of the models solely based on the axial (vertebrae) and appendicular (limbs) skeleton. In previous studies, these traits have been considered to be only useful for providing a general estimate or limited in value for age prediction [135,136]; nonetheless, our results are consistent with those of more recent publications that assess their predictive utility and urge reconsideration of these traits as valid age-related traits [64,66]. For instance, if these traits all present a Stage 0, one can infer without any computation that the age-atdeath of the deceased is between approximately 18 and 46 years (Figure 4, considering σ = 0.1).…”

“…This possible relation to activity can interfere in the expression and variation of entheseal morphology and affects its relationship with the aging process. However, recent and systematic studies conducted on identified skeletal collections show that age-at-death is one of the most relevant factors, or even the only one with statistical significance, in the expression of such skeletal traits [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70].…”

Involvement of an FTO gene polymorphism in the temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis

“…The mandibular condyle, which develops due to the same intracartilaginous ossification as the knee joint, has a structure that hangs from the skull. There are few studies on the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and TMJOA, and the absence of this relationship was reported by Winburn et al [ 15 ]. Furthermore, due to the weak relationship between occlusal force and BMI [ 16 ], TMJ is minimally affected by body weight.…”

Inter-population differences in acetabular senescence: relevance in age-at-death estimation

“…Despite limited research published in the previous century [ 87 ], it has not been until recently that many researchers have tried to deeply understand the aging process itself, its relationship with different linked factors others than age, and how those may be modifying the aging patterns and biasing the estimation. They have addressed the role of osteoarthritis [ 61 , 65 ], osteoporosis [ 66 ], BMI and obesity [ 19 , 88 – 90 ], occupation [ 33 , 91 ], tendency to bone growth [ 92 ], biological sex [ 33 , 34 , 70 ], and embodied experiences of social inequity [ 93 ] in the progressive changes of pelvic-based age markers and their implications in the age-at-death estimation procedures.…”

“…This suggests that physical inactivity may be driving acetabular aging, a force which might also be at play in the relatively physically inactive modern US sample examined in the current study. Interconnections between osteoarthritis and age-at-death estimation have also been important to consider [ 65 ], helping in refining the estimated ranges and giving remarkable information in fragmentary contexts [ 61 ]. Besides, Mays [ 33 ] did not find any association between acetabulum aging process and bone generation (DISH), while Rissech et al [ 66 ] stated that osteoporosis/bone loss has not significant influence neither in the pubic symphysis, nor in the auricular surface or in the acetabulum as age indicators.…”