Service de Médecine Légale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Rangueil, 1 Avenue du Professeur Jean Poulhès, TSA 50032, 31059, Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
UNAM, Service de médecine légale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, 4 rue Larrey, 49933, Angers Cedex 9, France.
Int J Legal Med. 2021 Nov;135(6):2447-2455. doi: 10.1007/s00414-021-02666-0. Epub 2021 Jul 30.
Despite an extensive number of existing methods, age estimation of human remains is still an unsolved matter in the field of forensic anthropology, especially when it comes to mature adults. The specific aim of this work was to propose a combined method for age estimation, for forensic purposes, by coupling the Suchey-Brooks method and the measure of the pubic bone density. For this purpose, we used an independent test sample comprising 339 CT scans of living individuals aged 15 to 99 years old. Measurement of bone density and staging according to the Suchey-Brooks phases were performed, followed by estimation of ages based on a combined method and an existing virtual reference sample. Results highlighted a significant negative correlation between bone density and age. Good accuracy was obtained for the measurement of pubic bone density for age estimation of men and women, especially concerning mature adults, with an absolute error ranging from 9 to 16 years for all individuals. The authors propose a practical combined method consisting of, first, allocating phases according to the scannographic approach of the Suchey-Brooks method. For phases I to IV, the age estimation is given using the Suchey-Brooks method. For phases V to VI, the pubic bone density measurement is used. Further study will be needed to assess the reproducibility of these results on cadavers and dry bones, as the post-mortem process could interfere with the measurement of mineral bone density.
尽管已经存在大量的方法，但人类遗骸的年龄估计在法医人类学领域仍然是一个未解决的问题，尤其是对于成熟的成年人。本项研究的具体目的是提出一种组合方法，用于法医目的，即将 Suchey-Brooks 方法与耻骨骨密度测量相结合。为此，我们使用了一个由 339 名年龄在 15 至 99 岁之间的活体个体的 CT 扫描组成的独立测试样本。进行了骨密度测量和按照 Suchey-Brooks 阶段分期，并根据组合方法和现有虚拟参考样本估计年龄。结果表明骨密度与年龄之间存在显著的负相关。对于男性和女性耻骨骨密度测量用于年龄估计具有良好的准确性，尤其是对于成熟的成年人，所有个体的绝对误差范围为 9 至 16 年。作者提出了一种实用的组合方法，首先根据 Suchey-Brooks 方法的扫描方法分配阶段。对于 I 至 IV 阶段，使用 Suchey-Brooks 方法进行年龄估计。对于 V 至 VI 阶段，使用耻骨骨密度测量。需要进一步研究来评估这些结果在尸体和干骨上的重现性，因为死后过程可能会干扰矿物质骨密度的测量。
