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Palatine Sutures as Age Indicator: A Controlled Study in the Elderly

NCJ Number
229699
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2010 Pages: 153-158
Author(s)
Jean-Pol Beauthier, M.D.; Philippe Lefevre, M.Sc.; Maurice Meunier, M.Sc.; Rosine Orban, Ph.D.; Caroline Polet, Ph.D.; Jean-Pierre Werquin, M.D.; Gerald Quatrehomme, M.D., Ph.D.
Date Published
January 2010
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Vault sutures have proven their low reliability for estimating age at death in individual forensic science cases. We broke down the palatine sutures of 134 skulls (with known sex and age at time of death) into 15 subparts and five stages of fusion to obtain a mean coefficient of obliteration (Cp), which was then linked to five age classes.
Abstract
We completed this study with multiple regression equations of total palatine suture scores. We compared our results with those obtained using the Mann method on the one hand and classically segmented and scored ectocranial suture age determination methods on the other. Palatine sutures generally do not estimate age at death any better than cranial vault sutures. Despite the partly subjective aspect of suture study, palatine suture observation contributes additional information to age-range estimation, especially in old and very old subjects where other methods lose their effectiveness. 10 tables, 3 figures, and 52 references (Published abstract)