LABANOF, Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 37, Milano, Italy.
Radiol Med. 2011 Oct;116(7):1105-14. doi: 10.1007/s11547-011-0694-5. Epub 2011 Jun 4.
Age estimation is one of the most crucial issues in case of unknown deceased as well as in the living and is very frequently of radiological interest. Three methods for age estimation have been designated as the most reliable among the others: Greulich and Pyle, Demirjian and Mincer. The literature provides several studies concerning their applicability in different geographic contexts. However, not always can ancestry be ascertained, for example, in the case of badly preserved corpses. In these cases, age assessment must be performed without the corrections suggested by the literature for different ethnic groups. One may therefore wonder how reliable the result of age assessment performed without knowing the racial group to which the subject belongs may be. This study aimed at testing the applicability of the Greulich and Pyle Atlas, the Demirjian and the Mincer methods on a mixed population to compare skeletal and dental methods of age estimation.
X-ray films of 167 subjects aged between 4 and 31 years from more than 18 countries were recruited. One hundred and nine orthopantomographs (OPG) of children aged between 4 and 15.5 years were evaluated by Demirjian's method; whenever the highest Demirjian score was reached (31 cases), the Mincer method was applied. The skeletal maturation of 54 subjects aged between 7 and 19 years was determined by the Greulich and Pyle method.
The lowest average variance from chronological age was shown by the Greulich and Pyle method, followed by Demirjian. The Mincer method showed very high mean variances.
Mean variances from the different methods do not significantly differ from data reported in the literature and demonstrate that the reliability of Demirjian, and Greulich and Pyle as they stand may be applied satisfactorily to remains or individuals of unknown ethnic origin.
年龄估算是未知死者以及生者中最重要的问题之一，并且经常具有放射学意义。在其他方法中，已经指定了三种方法作为最可靠的方法：Greulich 和 Pyle、Demirjian 和 Mincer。文献提供了一些关于这些方法在不同地理背景下适用性的研究。然而，并不总是可以确定祖先，例如在尸体保存不佳的情况下。在这些情况下，必须在没有文献为不同种族群体建议的校正的情况下进行年龄评估。因此，人们可能会想知道，在不知道受试者所属种族群体的情况下进行的年龄评估的结果有多可靠。本研究旨在测试 Greulich 和 Pyle 图谱、Demirjian 和 Mincer 方法在混合人群中的适用性，以比较骨骼和牙齿年龄评估方法。
招募了来自 18 个以上国家的年龄在 4 至 31 岁之间的 167 名受试者的 X 射线胶片。评估了 109 名年龄在 4 至 15.5 岁之间的儿童的全口曲面断层片（OPG）；当达到最高 Demirjian 评分（31 例）时，应用 Mincer 方法。通过 Greulich 和 Pyle 方法确定了 54 名年龄在 7 至 19 岁之间的受试者的骨骼成熟度。
Greulich 和 Pyle 方法显示出与实际年龄的最低平均方差，其次是 Demirjian 方法。Mincer 方法显示出非常高的平均方差。
不同方法的平均方差与文献中报道的数据没有显著差异，表明 Demirjian 和 Greulich 和 Pyle 的可靠性可以令人满意地应用于未知种族来源的遗体或个体。
