The evidential value of developmental age imaging for assessing age of majority

Tim James Cole

42 citations0/0 files storedAnnals of Human Biology

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Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies Dental Radiography and Imaging Child Abuse and Related Trauma

Abstract

AIM: To consider the evidential value of developmental age images for identifying age of majority. METHODS: The published literature on hand-wrist X-rays, MRI scans of the distal radius and orthopantomograms of the lower left third molar is considered in terms of the mean age of attainment of the adult appearance and the diagnostic test performance of the adult appearance to predict adult status, either administratively (under-17 football) or forensically. RESULTS: The mean age of attainment of a mature hand-wrist X-ray is under 18 years and most individuals are mature before age 18. For the MRI wrist scan and the third molar the age of attainment is over 19 years and the adult appearance is an indicator of adulthood, while the immature appearance is uninformative about likely age. So MRI and third molars have high specificity, but low sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Bone age assessed by hand-wrist X-ray is uninformative and should not be used. The adult appearance of MRI wrist scans and third molars provide evidence of being over-age, although there remains a small risk of minors being misclassified as adult. The immature appearance is uninformative about likely age and, overall, more than one third of assessments are wrong.

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References

1959RADIOGRAPHIC ATLAS OF SKELETAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HAND AND WRIST 1973A new system of dental age assessment.1993The A.B.F.O. Study of Third Molar Development and Its Use as an Estimator of Chronological Age 2002Assessment of skeletal maturity and prediction of adult height (TW3 method).2004Studies on the time frame for ossification of the medial clavicular epiphyseal cartilage in conventional radiography 2001Assessment of skeletal maturity and prediction of adult height:(TW3 Method)2000Effects of ethnicity on skeletal maturation: consequences for forensic age estimations 1986Assessment of Skeletal Maturity and Prediction of Adult Height (TW2 Method)

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2019The mental health and wellbeing of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs)2019Children on the move in Europe: a narrative review of the evidence on the health risks, health needs and health policy for asylum seeking, refugee and undocumented children 2017ISSOP position statement on migrant child health 2021Comparison of the third molar maturity index (I3M) between left and right lower third molars to assess the age of majority: a multi-ethnic study sample

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