Decision tree analysis for age estimation in living individuals: integrating cervical and dental radiographic evaluations within a South African population

AbstractAge estimation in living individuals around the age of 18  years is medico-legally important in undocumented migrant cases and in countries like South Africa where many individuals are devoid of identification documents. Establishing whether an individual is younger than 18 years largely influences the legal procedure that should be followed in dealing w ith an undocumented individual. The aim of this study was to combine dental third molar and anterior inferior apophysis ossification data for purposes of age estimation, by applying a decision tree analysis. A sample comprising of 871 black South African individuals (n = 446 males, 425 = females) with ages ranging between 15 and 24 years was analyzed using panoramic and cephalometric radiographs. Variables related to the left upper and lower third molars and cervical vertebral ring apophysis ossification of C2, C3, and C4 vertebrae analyzed in previous s tudies were combined in a multifactorial approach. The data were analyzed using a pruned decision tree function for classification. Male and female groups were handled separately as a statistically significant difference was found between the sexes in the original studies. A test sample of 30 indivi duals was used to determine if this approach could be used with confidence in estimating age of living individuals. The outcomes obtained from the test sample indicated a close correlation between the actual ages (in years and months) and the predicted ages (in ...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - Category: Medical Law Source Type: research