Histological age-at-death estimation in white South Africans using stereology

D. Botha; M. Steyn; N. Lynnerup

doi:10.1007/s00414-019-02152-8

Histological age-at-death estimation in white South Africans using stereology

D. Botha^*, M. Steyn, N. Lynnerup

^*Corresponding author for this work

Section of Forensic Pathology

Abstract

Various methods are available for estimating age from skeletal remains, amongst them the use of histomorphometry. It is generally argued that age estimation standards are population specific, but this in itself creates problems as the reference samples used are often not large enough and/or lack substantial representation of all age cohorts. Traditional age methods have been shown to suffer from problems such as age mimicry. This paper aims at establishing histological age-at-death standards for the white South African population by supplementing the available sample (lacking an adequate number of young adults) with another sample of European descent to avoid over-estimation of age in younger individuals caused by age mimicry. Bone microstructures related to the number of osteons and fragments, osteon size and Haversian canal size that change with advancing age were used for the development of regression formulae. A histomorphometric assessment of the anterior cortex of the femur was done using stereology for the estimation of age at death. All sections were analysed using the optical fractionator and nucleator probes. A sample of 94 bone sections (n = 50 male, n = 44 females) of white South African individuals were used. A sample of Danish individuals (n = 14 males, n = 16 females) was combined with the South African sample to create a normal age distribution for the reference sample. Single and multiple regression equations were developed after randomly selecting a hold-out sample (n = 14) for validation. Osteon size (average length, surface area and volume) showed the highest correlation with age, followed by the number of osteons and fragments per grid area. Haversian canal size showed inconsistent changes with advancing age. Using the regression equations, predicted ages were obtained for the 14 individuals. RMSE values ranged between 14 and 17 years, which we deemed acceptable.

Original language	English
Journal	International Journal of Legal Medicine
ISSN	0937-9827
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02152-8
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2019

Keywords

Age estimation
Age mimicry
Femur
Linear regression
Stereology

Access to Document

10.1007/s00414-019-02152-8

Cite this

@article{456dc46f42a047c5ba30d255ac7f3674,

title = "Histological age-at-death estimation in white South Africans using stereology",

abstract = "Various methods are available for estimating age from skeletal remains, amongst them the use of histomorphometry. It is generally argued that age estimation standards are population specific, but this in itself creates problems as the reference samples used are often not large enough and/or lack substantial representation of all age cohorts. Traditional age methods have been shown to suffer from problems such as age mimicry. This paper aims at establishing histological age-at-death standards for the white South African population by supplementing the available sample (lacking an adequate number of young adults) with another sample of European descent to avoid over-estimation of age in younger individuals caused by age mimicry. Bone microstructures related to the number of osteons and fragments, osteon size and Haversian canal size that change with advancing age were used for the development of regression formulae. A histomorphometric assessment of the anterior cortex of the femur was done using stereology for the estimation of age at death. All sections were analysed using the optical fractionator and nucleator probes. A sample of 94 bone sections (n = 50 male, n = 44 females) of white South African individuals were used. A sample of Danish individuals (n = 14 males, n = 16 females) was combined with the South African sample to create a normal age distribution for the reference sample. Single and multiple regression equations were developed after randomly selecting a hold-out sample (n = 14) for validation. Osteon size (average length, surface area and volume) showed the highest correlation with age, followed by the number of osteons and fragments per grid area. Haversian canal size showed inconsistent changes with advancing age. Using the regression equations, predicted ages were obtained for the 14 individuals. RMSE values ranged between 14 and 17 years, which we deemed acceptable.",

keywords = "Age estimation, Age mimicry, Femur, Linear regression, Stereology",

author = "D. Botha and M. Steyn and N. Lynnerup",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1007/s00414-019-02152-8",

language = "English",

journal = "International Journal of Legal Medicine",

issn = "0937-9827",

publisher = "Springer",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Histological age-at-death estimation in white South Africans using stereology

AU - Botha, D.

AU - Steyn, M.

AU - Lynnerup, N.

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Various methods are available for estimating age from skeletal remains, amongst them the use of histomorphometry. It is generally argued that age estimation standards are population specific, but this in itself creates problems as the reference samples used are often not large enough and/or lack substantial representation of all age cohorts. Traditional age methods have been shown to suffer from problems such as age mimicry. This paper aims at establishing histological age-at-death standards for the white South African population by supplementing the available sample (lacking an adequate number of young adults) with another sample of European descent to avoid over-estimation of age in younger individuals caused by age mimicry. Bone microstructures related to the number of osteons and fragments, osteon size and Haversian canal size that change with advancing age were used for the development of regression formulae. A histomorphometric assessment of the anterior cortex of the femur was done using stereology for the estimation of age at death. All sections were analysed using the optical fractionator and nucleator probes. A sample of 94 bone sections (n = 50 male, n = 44 females) of white South African individuals were used. A sample of Danish individuals (n = 14 males, n = 16 females) was combined with the South African sample to create a normal age distribution for the reference sample. Single and multiple regression equations were developed after randomly selecting a hold-out sample (n = 14) for validation. Osteon size (average length, surface area and volume) showed the highest correlation with age, followed by the number of osteons and fragments per grid area. Haversian canal size showed inconsistent changes with advancing age. Using the regression equations, predicted ages were obtained for the 14 individuals. RMSE values ranged between 14 and 17 years, which we deemed acceptable.

AB - Various methods are available for estimating age from skeletal remains, amongst them the use of histomorphometry. It is generally argued that age estimation standards are population specific, but this in itself creates problems as the reference samples used are often not large enough and/or lack substantial representation of all age cohorts. Traditional age methods have been shown to suffer from problems such as age mimicry. This paper aims at establishing histological age-at-death standards for the white South African population by supplementing the available sample (lacking an adequate number of young adults) with another sample of European descent to avoid over-estimation of age in younger individuals caused by age mimicry. Bone microstructures related to the number of osteons and fragments, osteon size and Haversian canal size that change with advancing age were used for the development of regression formulae. A histomorphometric assessment of the anterior cortex of the femur was done using stereology for the estimation of age at death. All sections were analysed using the optical fractionator and nucleator probes. A sample of 94 bone sections (n = 50 male, n = 44 females) of white South African individuals were used. A sample of Danish individuals (n = 14 males, n = 16 females) was combined with the South African sample to create a normal age distribution for the reference sample. Single and multiple regression equations were developed after randomly selecting a hold-out sample (n = 14) for validation. Osteon size (average length, surface area and volume) showed the highest correlation with age, followed by the number of osteons and fragments per grid area. Haversian canal size showed inconsistent changes with advancing age. Using the regression equations, predicted ages were obtained for the 14 individuals. RMSE values ranged between 14 and 17 years, which we deemed acceptable.

KW - Age estimation

KW - Age mimicry

KW - Femur

KW - Linear regression

KW - Stereology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072052712&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00414-019-02152-8

DO - 10.1007/s00414-019-02152-8

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31468135

AN - SCOPUS:85072052712

SN - 0937-9827

JO - International Journal of Legal Medicine

JF - International Journal of Legal Medicine

ER -

Histological age-at-death estimation in white South Africans using stereology

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this