Correlation between chronological age and computed tomography attenuation of trabecular bone from the os coxae

Abstract

Objective: Fields such as biological anthropology, forensic anthropology, archaeology, and mummy studies have increased the use medical imaging, such as computed tomography (CT), to analyze human remains through virtual examination. When predicting chronological age from virtual anatomy, methods developed on skeletal collections do not always produce accurate age predictions when applied to virtual anatomy. Age estimation methods developed specifically for medical imaging can improve accuracy of chronological age prediction when examining virtual anatomy. The present study examines the relationship between attenuation of trabecular bone from the os coxae and chronological age using CT scanning data.

Materials and Methods: A sample of 324 CT scans of living and cadaveric individuals were randomly selected from a CT scan database and used to identify a correlation between trabecular bone CT attenuation in four regions of the os coxae and chronological age. The four regions included trabecular bone deep to the auricular surface, pubic symphysis, posterior superior iliac spine, and the ischial tuberosity.

Results: Through cross validation, the trabecular bone deep to the pubic symphysis, posterior superior iliac spine, and ischial tuberosity resulted in the best prediction models based on model testing. Model testing identified models with adjusted R2 values of 0.83 and 0.86 for combine male/female bone attenuation and only female bone density, respectively.

Discussion: The resulting models, when used in relation with CT scanning data, provide a quantitative method that predicts chronological age and can be used in situations when remains are recently deceased fleshed individuals.