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A Pilot Study of Age Estimation and Cause of Death: Insights into Skeletal Aging

Authors :
Nicollette S. Appel
Heather J. H. Edgar
Source :
Forensic Sciences, Vol 4, Iss 4, Pp 508-522 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Forensic anthropological age estimations are often limited by a lack of diversity in reference samples, imprecision, and, for certain populations, inaccuracy. This study aims to explore the relationship between health, as indicated by cause of death, and skeletal age estimation, with the goal of determining whether including health information can improve accuracy and precision in age estimation. Methods: Skeletal age data were collected from the Maxwell Museum Documented Skeletal Collection using the Lovejoy et al. method for the auricular surface and the Suchey-Brooks method for the pubic symphysis. All individuals had a known cause of death, which was categorized into two broad groups: disease-related and trauma-related. Cause of death category served as a proxy for health status. Results: Individuals who died from disease-related causes often fell within the upper end of the age ranges for both the auricular surface and pubic symphysis methods. In contrast, those who died from trauma-related causes tended to fall within the lower end of these age ranges. Conclusions: These results indicate that incorporating factors such as health into existing forensic age estimation methods could enhance the precision of age estimates, particularly by addressing the influence of environmental and lifestyle factors on skeletal aging.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
26736756
Volume :
4
Issue :
4
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Forensic Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.7b0c155862564c6abbe93ff32f196c88
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/forensicsci4040034