Age, sex and body mass index in relation to calvarial diploe thickness and craniometric data on MRI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2008.09.014Get rights and content

Abstract

It might be critical to determine sex, body mass and age of the individual from skull in forensic medicine and anthropology. Our purpose in this study was to evaluate whether a relationship existed between the diploeic bone thickness measured from glabella, bregma, lambda, opisthocranion, and euryon regions and sex, age and body mass index of the individual. Glabella–opisthocranion, vertex–basion, euryon–euryon, basion–opisthion length were also determined for the same purpose. The anthropological landmarks were determined on sagittal and axial T1-weighted sequences and measurements were obtained on a workstation by two radiologists. A total of 107 subjects (F/M:59/48; mean age: 45.05 ± 15.28, age range: 21–81) were included in the study. The mean body mass index was 25.51 ± 4.44 [17.50–41]. There was a statistically significant linear correlation between age and diploe thickness from glabella, bregma, lambda, opisthocranion, right and left euryon. There was sexual dimorphism in all craniometric data including the distance between glabella–opisthocranion, vertex–basion, euryon–euryon, basion–opisthion, and calvarial volume. There was a statistically significant linear correlation between body mass index and basion–opisthion length. The diploe thicknesses from certain points of the calvarium are statistically related to each other. A standard cerebral MRI examination would be sufficient to obtain anthropological landmarks and craniometric data. According to this study, it might be possible to identify age, sex and body mass index of the individual from diploeic thickness and craniometric data.

Introduction

It is critical to determine sex, body mass and age of the individual from the skull in forensic medicine and anthropology. Any information that can be identified might be important when searching for human remains, unidentified bodies or in cases with interpersonal violence with cranial trauma. We tried to assess whether cranial fragments could be used in sexing and aging otherwise unidentified human remains. The prior studies were on calvarial thickness and most of them were insufficient due to small sample size and limited medical data on the subjects.

The skull is diploeic bone consisting of two cortical plates – the internal and external laminae – sandwiching a layer of trabecular bone known as the diploe [1]. The cranial vault serves as a linchpin for the functional matrix hypothesis of skull growth [2]. There have been earlier studies on the relationship between the calvarial thickness and age, sex, height and weight of the individual. The results have been conflicting [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]. In a relatively new study on the issue, not only was calvarial thickness assessed, but diploe thickness as well. They found a statistically significant difference in diploeic thickness between males and females in the frontal region only. According to that study, diploeic thickness was highly correlated with total cranial vault bone thickness, except for the left euryon in females [3].

Our purpose in this study was to evaluate whether a relationship existed between the diploeic bone thickness measured from glabella, bregma, lambda, opisthocranion, and euryon regions and the sex, age and body mass index (BMI) of the individual. Glabella–opisthocranion, vertex–basion, euryon–euryon, basion–opisthion lengths were also determined for the same purpose.

Section snippets

Subject population

A total of 179 subjects (F/M: 99/80; mean age: 43.42 ± 17.58, age range: 4–85) were consecutively enrolled during a two month period (from November to December 2007). The study was conducted in a Caucasian population. They had a cranial MRI exam due to neurological symptoms ranging in severity from headache to sensorimotor deficit. Subjects with a known preexisting bone disease such as tumor, metastasis, or metabolic disorder were excluded from the study. The subjects on drug therapy that may

Results

A total of 107 subjects (F/M: 59/48; mean age: 45.05 ± 15.28; age range: 21–81) were included in the study. The mean body mass index was 25.51 ± 4.44 [17.5–41]. According to their BMI values, 2 subjects were underweight, 56 were normal, 32 were overweight and 17 were obese. According to their age, there were 21 subjects aged 21–30, 28 subjects aged 31–40, 19 subjects aged 41–50, 22 subjects aged 51–60, and 17 subjects above 61 years of age. There was a statistically significant linear correlation

Discussion

Our study showed a statistically significant linear correlation between age and the diploe thickness from glabella, bregma, lambda, opisthocranion, right and left euryon. There was a statistically significant difference in diploeic thickness between males and females in the glabella region only. However, there was sexual dimorphism at all craniometric points including the distance between glabella–opisthocranion, vertex–basion, basion–opisthion, euryon–euryon and calvarial volume. These

Conclusion

A standard cerebral MRI examination would be sufficient to obtain anthropological landmarks and craniometric data. According to this study, it might be possible to obtain some information on age, sex and body mass index of the individual by determining the diploeic thickness and some specific craniometric data. There is a linear correlation between age and the diploe thickness from glabella, bregma, lambda, opisthocranion, right and left euryon. Gender has an impact on craniometric measurements

References (19)

  • N. Lynnerup

    Cranial thickness in relation to age, sex and general body build in a Danish forensic sample

    Forensic Sci. Int.

    (2001)
  • H. Sicher et al.

    Oral Anatomy

    (1970)
  • M. Moss

    Comparative anatomy of vertebrate dermal bone and teeth

    Acta Anat.

    (1968)
  • N. Lynnerup et al.

    Thickness of the human cranial diploe in relation to age, sex and general body build

    Head Face Med.

    (2005)
  • F. Cotton et al.

    Cranial sutures and craniometric points detected on MRI

    Surg. Radiol. Anat.

    (2005)
  • R.J. Anderson

    Observations on the thickness of the human skull

    Dublin J. Med. Sci.

    (1882)
  • T.W. Todd

    Thickness of the male white cranium

    Anat. Record

    (1924)
  • M.D. Ross et al.

    Skull thickness of black and white races

    South African Med. J.

    (1976)
  • A.F. Roche

    Increase in cranial thickness during growth

    Hum. Biol.

    (1953)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

View full text