Hall Felicity, Forbes Shari, Rowbotham Samantha, Blau Soren
Faculty of Science, Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Ultimo, 2007, New South Wales, Australia.
Département de Chimie, Biochimie et Physique, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Boulevard des Forges, G8Z 4M3, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.
J Forensic Sci. 2019 Nov;64(6):1782-1787. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14086. Epub 2019 May 31.
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.
估算个体的死亡年龄在身份不明的人类遗骸调查中起着关键作用。苏奇-布鲁克斯方法涉及对耻骨联合处退行性形态变化的分析，目前广泛用于估算成年人的年龄。本研究通过观察204名年龄在15至100岁的澳大利亚当代（维多利亚州）成年亚群体耻骨联合处的三维容积再现尸检计算机断层扫描（PMCT）重建图像，测试了苏奇-布鲁克斯方法的适用性。结果表明，该方法对女性可靠（正确分配率为85%），但对男性不可靠（正确分配率为67%）。因此，建议在根据PMCT图像应用苏奇-布鲁克斯方法估算该亚群体个体的死亡年龄时要极其谨慎。结果表明需要对其他年龄估算方法进行进一步研究。
