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Bone Mineral Density Adult Age Estimation in Forensic Anthropology: A Test


of the DXAGE Application

Article  in  Journal of Forensic Sciences · December 2018


DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13987

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J Forensic Sci, 2018
doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.13987
TECHNICAL NOTE Available online at: onlinelibrary.wiley.com

ANTHROPOLOGY

Jonathan D. Bethard ,1 Ph.D.; Jacqueline M. Berger ,1 M.S.; Justin Maiers,1 M.S.; and
Ann H. Ross ,2 Ph.D.

Bone Mineral Density Adult Age Estimation in


Forensic Anthropology: A Test of the DXAGE
Application*

ABSTRACT: Estimating age-at-death of individuals represented only by skeletonized human remains is a fundamental aspect of forensic
anthropological casework. Recently, several researchers have proposed that bone mineral density (BMD) is a useful predictor of age-at-death in
forensic contexts. Navega et al. (JFS 63(2):497–503) developed an online application called DXAGE for calculating age-at-death from BMD
parameters. This study tests the utility of DXAGE by utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
BMD data from a female subsample (n = 470) of the NHANES 2007–2008 dataset were analyzed, and the relationship between predicted age
and real age was examined. Inaccuracy was 14.25 years, and bias was 7.20 years. Results show that there is a weak correlation between pre-
dicted and actual age (r = 0.47) using the DXAGE application. While BMD data are potentially useful for predicting age age-at-death, the
DXAGE application should be used cautiously in forensic anthropological contexts.

KEYWORDS: forensic sciences, forensic anthropology, age-at-death estimation, bone mineral density, DXAGE, NHANES

Forensic anthropologists are limited in the ability to estimate generating age-at-death estimates, Garvin and Passalacqua (16)
age-at-death (AAD) in skeletal remains of adult individuals, and in have demonstrated that practicing forensic anthropologists pref-
particular, those over the age of fifty (1–3). Most of this limitation erentially utilize few age-at-death estimation methodologies, the
has to do with the intrinsic nature of bone as a tissue itself, in addi- majority of which involve macroscopic observation of a few
tion to the many extrinsic variables surrounding the process of skeletal regions (e.g., pubic symphysis, auricular surface, ster-
human aging. A host of variables including but not limited to vari- nal rib ends). When these regions of the skeleton are missing
ation in habitual activity levels, the presence or absence of patho- or damaged due to postmortem processes, estimating age-at-
logical conditions such as osteoporosis, body mass, and parturition death of adult individuals becomes increasingly difficult and
are thought to impact the process of adult aging (4–10). In addi- problematic.
tion, age-at-death methodologies introduce error to the process Recently, several research teams have proposed that bone min-
due to the biased nature of skeletal reference populations and the eral density (BMD) is useful for estimating age-at-death in
statistical approaches used to generate age estimates (4, 11). forensic contexts (17–19). For many years, researchers working
Although numerous published attempts to control the variables outside medicolegal contexts have documented the decline of
associated with age-at-death estimation have been undertaken, it BMD with increasing age (20–24). According to Navega et al.
is generally agreed upon that generating age-at-death estimates (19), the process of aging affects bone health with both direct
for individuals over fifty years of age is tenuous at best and can- and indirect effects on bone mass. Moreover, Navega et al. (19)
not be performed with high precision or accuracy (12–14). summarize the biology of age-related bone loss and indicate
Given that approximately 34% of individuals in the United numerous etiologies for decreased BMD. Among these, the
States are aged 50 and older (www.census.gov) (15), the ina- decrease in calcitriol (the molecule responsible for the absorption
bility for forensic anthropologists to accurately and precisely of dietary calcium in the gut), secondary hyperparathyroidism,
generate age-at-death estimates of individuals in this age coh- and the reduction in osteocyte density have all been attributed to
ort is problematic. In addition, despite numerous approaches the relationship between advanced age and reduced BMD.
Castillo and Ruiz (18) were the first to demonstrate that BMD
could be used as a predictor of age-at-death in forensic contexts,
1
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 East utilizing a sample of 70 individuals drawn from a clinical hospi-
Fowler Avenue, SOC107, Tampa, FL 33620. tal context in Spain. Individuals in the study sample were
2
Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, 100 patients who required BMD scanning via dual X-ray absorptiom-
Eugene Brooks Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27695. etry (DXA), from which the researchers obtained significant cor-
Corresponding author: Jonathan D. Bethard, Ph.D.
E-mail: jbethard@usf.edu relations between BMD and age. Castillo and Ruiz (18)
*Funded by the National Institute of Justice (2018-DU-BX-0197). concluded that BMD, particularly in the region of interest (ROI)
Received 8 Oct. 2018; and in revised form 30 Nov. 2018; accepted 3 Dec. of the Ward’s triangle of the proximal femur, was a useful
2018. parameter for age-at-death estimation.

© 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences 1


2 JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES

Following the work of Castillo and Ruiz (18), Navega et al. TABLE 1––Total BMD values by age cohort.
(19) developed the framework that forms the basis of the present
validation study. In brief, Navega et al. analyzed femoral BMD BMD Total BMD Total BMD Total BMD Total
Age N Min Max Mean S.D
for 100 females aged 21–95 years, drawn from the Coimbra
Identified Skeletal Collection in Coimbra, Portugal. The sample 20–29 73 0.577 1.1319 0.97838 0.146702
was subdivided into seven age categories, which consisted of 30–39 80 0.667 1.225 0.94191 0.126764
40–49 87 0.670 1.190 0.96205 0.114294
either 14 or 15 individuals per category. The analysis was con- 50–59 79 0.600 1.165 0.88253 0.133035
ducted using a Hologic QDR 4500C Elite densitometer for three 60–69 89 0.605 1.202 0.87600 0.141262
common ROI’s: total femoral BMD, Ward’s triangle BMD, and 70–79 41 0.644 1.152 0.82585 0.132460
femoral neck BMD. Navega et al. applied artificial neural net- 80+ 21 0.492 0.992 0.74071 0.141157
works (ANN) to the Portuguese dataset. Often described as a Total 470
“black box” approach, ANN represent machine-learning tech-
nique best suited for examining the relationship of variables that TABLE 2––Neck BMD values by age cohort.
are not well understood or discerning complex patterns that are
difficult to identify using conventional methods (25). BMD Neck BMD Neck BMD Neck BMD Neck
Navega et al. created a user-friendly, web-based application Age N Min Max Mean S.D
called DXAGE (http://osteomics.com/DXAGE/). DXAGE per- 20–29 73 0.430 1.246 0.90567 0.130169
mits a practitioner to generate age-at-death estimates from one or 30–39 80 0.544 1.1218 0.84759 0.130169
more BMD variables. A predicted age, as well as a minimum 40–49 87 0.551 1.189 0.84593 0.11067
50–59 79 0.515 1.059 0.76872 0.129471
and maximum age-at-death estimate, is also calculated by the 60–69 89 0.518 1.127 0.76015 0.130041
application. The purpose of the present study was to test the 70–79 41 0.496 0.952 0.71334 0.113342
DXAGE application developed by Navega et al. (19) on a docu- 80+ 21 0.340 0.837 0.6343 0.120040
mented BMD dataset from the United States. Total 470

Materials and Methods


TABLE 3––Ward’s triangle BMD by age cohort.
Available femoral BMD data from the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were utilized in this BMD Ward BMD Ward BMD Ward BMD Ward
study. NHANES BMD data from the femur were collected in Age N Min Max Mean S.D
2007–2008 and are freely available from the following website:
20–29 73 0.299 1.344 0.86751 0.175607
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/2007-2008/DXXFEM_E.htm. 30–39 80 0.448 1.143 0.76099 0.146173
Additionally, the demographic parameters for each individual are 40–49 87 0.394 0.985 0.70860 0.127966
also available here: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Nhanes/2007- 50–59 79 0.267 0.930 0.60851 0.153155
2008/DEMO_E.htm. The samples have been widely utilized for 60–69 89 0.329 1.021 0.57248 0.144078
70–79 41 0.276 0.777 0.50729 0.122003
studies related to osteoporosis and other clinical conditions, and 80+ 21 0.119 0.657 0.41038 0.131169
were collected with a Hologic bone densitometer (26–28). It Total 470
must be noted that BMD acquisition and comparisons are manu-
facturer specific and comparisons of normative data should only
be compared to those acquired by the same manufacturer (29).
A randomly selected subsample composed of available female NHANES BMD data, age was calculated in DXAGE and these
BMD data from the 2007–2008 NHANES femoral dataset was predicted ages were compared to the known or actual ages from
utilized in this study (n = 470). The age range of individuals the NHANES dataset. The mean difference between predicted
included in the NHANES subsample was 20–80 years, with a and actual ages was assessed with the Matched Pair platform in
mean age of 49.15 years (SD = 16.77). Importantly, all individ- the statistical package JMP 13.1, which compares row-by-row
uals in the NHANES dataset aged 80 and over are top-coded at differences between two response columns (i.e., predicted age
80 years of age (30). and actual age) using a paired t-test. In addition, comparisons
Tables 1-3 present the number of individuals in each decade within age decades were made to explore those with the greatest
cohort and descriptive statistics of the three NHANES BMD difference. Predicted ages derived using Navega et al. “black
parameters utilized by Navega et al. (19): total femoral BMD, box” method were also compared to predicted ages attained
femoral neck BMD, and Ward’s triangle BMD. The DXAGE using the linear regression equation by Paschall and Ross which
application was utilized to calculate AAD estimates. When using was derived from a forensic sample (17):
the DXAGE application for the present study, alpha was set to
0.05 and the “Fast” method was selected. The predicted age pro- Age ¼ 82:1  ð39:9  femoral neck BMDÞ:
vided by the DXAGE application was used to calculate inaccu-
racy and bias following Merritt (8). Inaccuracy was calculated as Importantly, Paschall and Ross also utilized a Hologic
the average absolute error of the predicted age, disregarding QDR4500, the same manufacturer densitometer used by Navega
over- or underestimation: Σ|(predicted age – actual age)|/n. Bias et al. (19) and NHANES.
was calculated as the mean over- or underestimation of age:
Σ(predicted age – actual age)/n. In addition, the percentage of Results
individuals falling within the age range generated by DXAGE
(e.g., Min Age and Max Age) was calculated. Inaccuracy was 14.25 years, and bias was 7.20 years. In
A Pearson product-moment coefficient was used to examine addition, 78% of individuals (n = 367) fell within the age range
the relationship between the BMD variables and age. Using the calculated by the DXAGE software package. Age ranges varied
BETHARD ET AL. . A TEST OF THE DXAGE APPLICATION 3

from a minimum span of 5 years and a maximum span of Currently, DXAGE is not recommended for forensic case-
67 years. The average age range calculated by DXAGE was work; however, the quantitative nature of BMD data eliminates
38.3 years. The Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient the problem of observer experience and interobserver subjectiv-
showed the strongest correlation between age and Ward’s trian- ity that has been documented by numerous researchers (33–35).
gle BMD (r = 0.651) with moderate correlations with femoral Moreover, DXA technology is widely available and BMD data
neck (r = 0.468) and total femoral BMD (r = 0.385), respec- can be generated rapidly and at low cost (36). General practi-
tively. Results show that there is a weak correlation between tioner clinics, hospitals, and some veterinary hospitals routinely
predicted and actual age (r = 0.47) using Navega et al.’s appli- use BMD data and procedures for rapidly obtaining BMD
cation. Results also show that there is a significant difference parameters from isolated skeletal elements have been described
between predicted age and actual age in the overall model (36). We underscore that instrument manufacturer continuity
(Prob > │t│ < 0.0001; mean difference F ratio = 34.82) and between reference and sample data remains compulsory and
show that on average DXAGE under-ages individuals by 7 years should be explicitly described in future research involving BMD
(mean difference = 7.2 years). In the youngest age category in forensic contexts. In this study, given that Hologic densitome-
(20–29 years), the mean difference is 7.47 years. DXAGE on ters were utilized to collect all of the BMD parameters herein,
average over-ages members of this younger age cohort by the overall weak correlation between actual and predicted age
7.5 years. The age category with the least mean difference is the may be more of an artifact of the small reference sample built
30–39 age-group (mean difference = 0.65 years). DXAGE into the DXAGE software, particularly given the overlapping
under-ages individuals in the remaining age categories: by values of the BMD total and BMD neck variables across numer-
5.3 years in the 40–49 age-group; by 9.7 years in the 50–59 ous age categories.
age-group; by 15.45 years in the 60–69 age-group; by While BMD parameters have been utilized frequently in the
24.44 years in the 70–79 age-group; and by 23.1 years in the clinical literature, they have received little attention for AAD
80+ age-group. estimation in forensic anthropological contexts until recently. In
Predicted ages derived using the Paschall and Ross (17) all of the studies investigating BMD and age estimation in foren-
femoral neck BMD equation were then compared to actual ages, sic anthropology to date, sample sizes are small and do not
and to Navega et al. predicted ages. No significant difference encompass sufficient variation among and between age cohorts
between predicted age using linear regression and actual age in to be able to estimate age in a forensic context which has evi-
the overall model was noted (Prob > │t│0.244; mean differ- dentiary ramifications. The NHANES dataset eliminates the issue
ence F ratio = 408.9). On average, linear regression under-ages of small sample sizes and provides a powerful tool for future
individuals by <1 year (mean difference = 0.804 years). In the work investigating the link between BMD and age-related
youngest age category (20–29 years), the mean difference is changes. In addition, other large BMD datasets such as the
21.15 years. In other words, DXAGE on average over-ages Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
members of this younger age cohort by 21 years. The age cate- (KHANES) are available and could be utilized to examine the
gory with the least mean difference is the 50–59 age-group broad applicability of this approach in forensic contexts outside
(mean difference = 2.329 years). The linear regression equa- of the United States (37). Moreover, while taphonomic variables
tion over-aged individuals by 21.153 years in the 20–29 age- are known to affect BMD (38), documenting BMD parameters
group; by 13.691 years in the 30–39 age-group; by 3.2 years in of the NHANES dataset will enable researchers to better under-
the 40–49 age-group; and under-aged individuals by 11.74 years stand how the postmortem interval affects skeletal attrition.
in the 60.69 age-group; by 19.88 years in the 70–79 age-group These results also underscore the importance of performing vali-
age; and by 23.24 years in the 80+ age-group. dation studies on web-based applications for admissibility in
forensic casework. Furthermore, additional studies utilizing
intrinsic bone biology parameters (e.g., BMD) may prove useful
Discussion for age estimation in the future.
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