Independent test of the fourth rib aging technique

Abstract

The sternal surface of the 4th rib has been suggested as a useful predictor of adult age-at-death (Iscan et al.: Journal of Forensic Sciences 29:1094-1104, 1984; American Journal of Physical Anthropology 65:147-156, 1984). We tested its ability to do so in two tests. In the first, we developed a method of seriation and target age assignment for the 4th rib so that inaccuracy and bias of the method could be assessed by decade. We found that the 4th rib shows characteristic changes in morphology with age and can be included in multifactorial age estimates. In the second test, we applied the phase method developed by Iscan et al. (Journal of Forensic Sciences 29:1094-1104, 1984). The results of our three judges were generally similar to those reported by Iscan and Loth (Journal of Forensic Sciences 31:122-132, 1986). Measures of race differences in 4th rib morphology were included in both tests. Americans of African descent (black) showed a non-significant trend for the rib changes to be delayed compared to Americans of European descent (white). This is in contrast to the work of Iscan et al., which predicted that blacks would show a tendency toward accelerated rib changes compared to whites, especially after the early 30s (phases 5-7) (Iscan et al.: Journal of Forensic Sciences 32(2):452-466, 1987).

Osificación del cartílago costal de la primera costilla en relación con la edad: Aplicaciones en la estimación forense de la edad

“…Varios autores han puesto a prueba la eficacia del método como predictor de la edad en distintas revistas indexadas [8,9], siendo motivo de varias tesis doctorales [10] y estudios de validez en distintas poblaciones [11,12,13]. Se ha propuesto también la posibilidad de aplicar con cierta eficacia este método en otras costillas con la excepción de la primera [14,15].…”

Age-at-death estimation in Caucasian females from the morphological analysis of the sternal end of the fourth rib

“…_ Is ßcan developed the so-called ''phases method'', one of the most reliable indicator of age at death in adult skeleton: sternal end of the rib shows morphological changes associated with biological aging and _ Is ßcan divided these changes into 9 phases, corresponding to 9 different age groups [1,2]. _ Is ßcan provided a full description of the characteristics of each phase and confirmed the reproducibility of the results while other studies the accuracy of the method [3][4][5][6][7]. The aim of this study is to develop a model for determining the age from morphological analysis of the sternal end of the fourth rib, alternative to the _ Is ßcan's ''phases method'', regarding a sample of Caucasian females, considering that Caucasian males were already investigated in our institution in a similar way [8].…”

Methods for age estimation

“…Ancak tüm ça-lışmalarda kesinlik veren bir bulgu saptanmamıştır [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”