Age estimation on the female sternum by quantification theory I and stepwise regression analysis

Abstract

One hundred and nine sternums from Chinese females aged 18–50 years were examined in this study. Six morphological characteristics and their changing degree in the female sternum were observed and scored. The data were statistically processed by quantification theory I and stepwise regression analysis on a computer and the following regression equation for age estimation of the female sternum was calculated: y = 19.28 + 1.83 x 1 + 1.66 x 2 + 3.02 x 3 + 1.57 x 4 + 3.02 x 5 + 7.75 x 6 + 1.25 x 7 + 3.45 x 8 + 4.88 x 9 + 0.82 x 10 + 2.76 x 11 + 2.48 x 12 + 7.84 x 13 + 1.26 x 14 + 3.80 x 15 (the correlation coefficient R = 0.9774, the standard deviation S = 2.20, F > 0.01). For convenience, the changing degree of the morphological characters and the equation were also converted into two tables. This method of age estimation on the female sternum is simple and accurate and is of importance to forensic medicine and anthropology.