How "representative" is the Terry collection? evidence from the proximal femur.

The work reported here is the beginning of an attempt to determine whether data on skeletal aging changes derived from the Terry collection (Smithsonian Institution) can safely be applied to present-day clinical and forensic problems. Measurements made on radiographs of the proximal third of the right femur below the greater trochanter were compared in three groups of American white females: Terry collection "regulars," Terry collection willed, and GW (George Washington University Medical Center) willed. Mean birth year for the Terry regulars was 1883, whereas the mean birth year for Terry and GW willed was 1910. Terry willed femora are longer than those of Terry regulars, but not more robust. The two groups show opposing secular trends in femoral length, and in this respect the Terry regulars appear closer to the general U.S. population. In two indices of relative medullary cavity size (which reflect changes in cortical thickness as well as internal and external diameters) all three groups agree in showing age-related increase of medullary diameters, greater increase in the anterior-posterior dimension, and greatest amount of increase at diaphyseal levels. The major difference between groups is in timing, with medullary cavity expansion becoming evident at least a decade earlier and leading to greater eventual loss of cortical thickness in the willed groups.