Age and sex estimation by cranial and paranasal sinus metric measurements of Turkish citizens using PLS methods

Ozdemır M., TURAN YURTSEVER N., AKDENİZ E., BUĞDAYCI O.

Journal of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science, 2025 (ESCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/00085030.2025.2466892
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Age estimation by the skeleton, estimation de l'âge par le squelette, estimation du sexe par le squelette, forensic imaging, human identification, identification humaine, imagerie médico-légale, médecine légale, méthodes d’imagerie radiographique, paranasal sinuses, radiographic imaging methods, sex estimation by the skeleton, sinus paranasaux
  • Marmara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

‘Identification’, where age and sex estimation are two main components, is one of the important issues of forensic medicine. In particular, sex estimation from skeletal remains and age estimation of unidentified people are frequently encountered. This study aimed to estimate age and sex with radiological imaging of the skull by evaluating cranial CT (computed tomography) images, cranial metric measurements frequently used in the literature, and paranasal sinus measurements. Using cranial CT images of 803 cases, 404 of whom were male (50.3%) and 399 of whom were female (49.7%), between the ages of 10–65, analyzed with PLS (partial least squares) regression model for age estimation, different models were created for sex estimation and statistical results were discussed with the literature. While only cranial metric measurements were able to correctly predict sex at a rate of 77% and only paranasal metric measurements at a rate of 70%, this rate increased to 79% when all measurements were used together. For age estimation, formulas were developed with the four parameters that we found to have the most statistically significant discriminatory power (nasal width, nasal height, right maxillary sinus width and left maxillary sinus depth).