Albert Midori, Mulhern Dawn, Torpey Melissa A, Boone Edward
Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403-5907, USA.
J Forensic Sci. 2010 Mar 1;55(2):287-94. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01307.x. Epub 2010 Feb 5.
Union of the vertebral centra or "ring" epiphyses occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, providing valuable age at death information. We present a system for estimating age based on the timing and pattern of vertebral ring union. Data from 57 known individuals aged 14-27 years were used to establish age ranges for various patterns of union in females and males. Female age ranges were more well defined with less overlap in patterns of union than male age ranges. The age ranges are accompanied by descriptions of the stages of union observed that aid in applying this method. A test of interobserver error in scoring stages of union demonstrated strong consistency among three observers (r = 0.91-0.97). Estimating age by observing all stages documented resulted in 78%, 88%, and 100% accuracies using vertebral data alone. We encourage the continued use of this method, in conjunction with other age indicators.
椎体中心或“环状”骨骺的融合发生在青春期和成年早期，可提供有价值的死亡年龄信息。我们提出了一种基于椎骨环状融合时间和模式来估计年龄的系统。利用来自57名年龄在14至27岁之间的已知个体的数据，确定了女性和男性不同融合模式的年龄范围。女性的年龄范围比男性的年龄范围界定更清晰，融合模式的重叠更少。这些年龄范围还伴有对所观察到的融合阶段的描述，有助于应用该方法。一项关于观察者间在融合阶段评分误差的测试表明，三名观察者之间具有很强的一致性（r = 0.91 - 0.97）。仅使用椎骨数据，通过观察记录的所有阶段来估计年龄，准确率分别为78%、88%和100%。我们鼓励继续使用这种方法，并结合其他年龄指标。
