The effect of factors other than age upon skeletal age indicators in the adult

Forensic age estimation methods are biased to sex and population; in general, accuracy is reduced when applied to foreign populations. This study assessed the accuracy of the Suchey–Brooks method in contemporary Malaysian individuals and aimed to formulate population‐specific standards. Multi‐detector computed tomography scans of 355 individuals (165 male; 190 female) of 15–83 years of age were reconstructed using 3D‐volumetric rendering in RadiAnt. Pubic symphyseal phase, bias, inaccuracy, and percentage correct age classifications are examined. Transition analysis was used to develop age estimation standards. High observer agreement (κ = 0.763–0.832) and a positive relationship between age and pubic symphyseal phase (r = 0.884–0.90) were demonstrated. Mean inaccuracies were 8.62 and 8.95 years for males and females, respectively; overall correct classification was 97.8%. Transition ages between phases in males were 18.79, 23.29, 28.85, 43.64, and 61.15 years; in females, the corresponding data were 19.77, 22.53, 32.62, 41.85, and 57.39 years.

Section: Journal Of Forensic Sciencessupporting

confidence: 56%

“…It is acknowledged that skeletal degeneration specifically is related to genetics, nutrition, socioeconomic status and bone growth . Pubic symphyseal morphological changes are also known to be affected (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of Pubic Symphysis Metamorphosis Based on the Analysis of Clinical MDCT Scans in a Contemporary Malaysian Population

Hisham

Abdullah

Noor

et al. 2019

“…BMD has a multifactorial etiology and, like most skeletal indicators of age in adults, varies between individuals and between populations, reflecting the complexity of the senescence process . In general, circa 60% of the variation in skeletal age indicators is related with features other than age : compare it with the percent variance of BMD Ward that is explained by age at death (57.8%). Considering that population and individual factors influence skeletal remodeling and biological age, it is advisable to employ an eclectic range of indicators of age to assess age at death .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DXAGE: A New Method for Age at Death Estimation Based on Femoral Bone Mineral Density and Artificial Neural Networks

Navega

Coelho

Cunha

et al. 2017

Age at death estimation in adult skeletons is hampered, among others, by the unremarkable correlation of bone estimators with chronological age, implementation of inappropriate statistical techniques, observer error, and skeletal incompleteness or destruction. Therefore, it is beneficial to consider alternative methods to assess age at death in adult skeletons. The decrease in bone mineral density with age was explored to generate a method to assess age at death in human remains. A connectionist computational approach, artificial neural networks, was employed to model femur densitometry data gathered in 100 female individuals from the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection. Bone mineral density declines consistently with age and the method performs appropriately, with mean absolute differences between known and predicted age ranging from 9.19 to 13.49 years. The proposed method-DXAGE-was implemented online to streamline age estimation. This preliminary study highlights the value of densitometry to assess age at death in human remains.

“…Consequently, age mimicry may explain the mismatching of age distributions reported in this paper. While outside the scope of this paper, some solutions to this problem include utilizing Bayesian statistics coupled with transition analysis to minimize the influence of the reference sample on the target population (5,(27)(28)(29)(30)(31) using only methods whose reference sample was uniformly distributed (32) (although this still does not completely reflect the actual age at death distribution of most populations) or methods whose reference sample is representative of the target population's true age at death distribution (33)(34)(35).…”

Section: Age Mimicrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using PMCT of Individuals of Known Age to Test the Suchey–Brooks Method of Aging in Victoria, Australia

Hall

Forbes

Rowbotham

et al. 2019

The estimation of an individual's age at death plays a critical role in the investigation of unidentified human remains. The Suchey–Brooks method, which involves the analysis of degenerative morphological changes in the pubic symphysis, is currently widely used to estimate age in adults. This study tested the applicability of the Suchey–Brooks method on a contemporary adult Australian (Victorian) subpopulation by observing three‐dimensional volume‐rendered postmortem computed tomographic (PMCT) reconstructions of the pubic symphysis of 204 individuals aged 15–100 years. Results showed the method was reliable for females (85% correct allocations) but not for males (67% correct allocations). It is therefore recommended that extreme caution be used when applying the Suchey–Brooks method for estimating age at death of an individual in this subpopulation from PMCT images. The results suggest further investigation into alternate age estimation methods is required.