Abstract
(1) Background: While decreasing bone mineral density (BMD) with age in living people has been well documented, a correlation between age and bone mineral density in deceased people has only been reported in a few studies. A correlation between age and BMD in deceased people was investigated as an objective tool for age estimation of unidentified remains. (2) Methods: The Bone Area Ratio (BAR) was measured in 402 autopsy cases (143 females and 259 males over the age of 20). (3) Results: The correlation coefficient in the females was r = −0.5476, and the correlation coefficient in the males was r = −0.2166, indicating a stronger correlation in females than in males. A comparison of the BAR values in the deceased females for each age group with that in live females found no significant differences in the BAR values. BAR values in the deceased were similar to in live individuals, and this did not change with duration of the postmortem interval. (4) Conclusions: Measuring the BAR value based on bone mass using ultrasonic waves is rapid and easy, even for those lacking forensic training, and may be used to estimate the age of an individual and the likelihood of fracture due to trauma.
Highlights
Personal identification is necessary and important for unidentified remains found during either large-scale disasters or peacetime
We investigated the use of bone mineral density (BMD) for the estimation of the age of unidentified remains at various postmortem intervals
This study examined the use of ultrasonic waves to determine a correlation between age and BMD in deceased and living individuals
Summary
Personal identification is necessary and important for unidentified remains found during either large-scale disasters or peacetime. When personal belongings and/or facial recognition are not available or conclusive, determination of both gender and approximate age from physical features is used for identification. Age estimation is determined from a wide variety of anthropological findings, such as adhesion of sutures between cranial bones, depth of humeral medullary cavities [1,2,3,4], dental attrition, and dental pulp cavity constriction [5]. Both physicians and dentists with forensic knowledge and experience are needed to make an age estimation. More precise objective methods, not necessarily requiring professional experience, are required for the determination of the age of deceased individuals
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