Sternum as an indicator for sex and age estimation using multidetector computed tomography in an Egyptian population

Forensic age-at-death estimation using the sternal junction in Thai adults: an autopsy study

“…Therefore, the fusion rate of both the manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions was not a reliable age indicator in Thai population. Previous studies have reported similar results on the high variability in the fusion rate of the manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Table 3 summarizes the studies about the fusion of manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions.…”

“…All of these studies found that the manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions fused at different times. Studies in this regard have been carried out in the Chinese [ 11 ], Indian population [ 12 - 16 ], South African [ 17 ], Turkish [ 18 , 19 ], Egyptian [ 20 ], Spanish [ 21 ], Japanese [ 22 ] and mixed population (mainly British) [ 10 ]. For the Thai population, Monum et al [ 23 ] developed a model for age estimation in the Thai male population using radiological analysis of chest plate ossification.…”

“…The sternum has been considered a potential application in forensic age estimation in young adult and adult skeletons. Most of the authors studied direct observation of the fusion of manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions in different population groups [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. All of these studies found that the manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions fused at different times.…”

Does sternal body shape reflect family relationships? A study on a genealogically documented Central European osteological sample (19th–20th centuries)

“…The great variability of the sternum was described as early as the first half of the 20th century (Hrdlička, 1937; Lubosch, 1920). It is crucial to find that sternal variation can contribute to the identification of unknown decedents in forensic contexts via the biological profile because of sexual variation in sternum size (Ali et al, 2021; Dorado‐Fernández et al, 2021; Peleg et al, 2020) and to the identification of specific sternal characteristics via the comparison of ante‐mortem and post‐mortem data (Macaluso & Lucena, 2014), for which the high degree of sternal variability is ideal (Weiss et al, 2018). Some studies have pointed to a shared occurrence of some morphological traits among biologically related individuals, such as sternal foramina (Crubézy, 1992), manubriosternal fusion (Cvrček, Kuželka, et al, 2021a), and pectus excavatum (Creswick et al, 2006).…”