title: Hyperostosis frontalis interna: criteria for sexing and aging a skeleton.
abstract: Estimation of sex and age in skeletons is essential in anthropological and forensic medicine investigations. The aim of the current study was to examine the potential of hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI) as a criterion for determining sex and age in forensic cases. Macroscopic examination of the inner aspect of the frontal bone of 768 skulls (326 males and 442 females) aged 1 to 103, which had undergone a head computerized tomography scan, was carried out using the volume rendering technique. HFI was divided into two categories: minor and major. HFI is a sex- and age-dependent phenomena, with females manifesting significantly higher prevalence than males (p<0.01). In both females and males, prevalence of HFI increases as age increases (p<0.01). We present herein the probabilities of designating an unknown skull to a specific sex and age cohort according to the presence of HFI (standardized to age distribution in an Israeli population). Moreover, we present the probability of an individual belonging to a specific sex or age cohort according to age or sex (respectively) and severity of HFI. We suggest a valid, reliable, and easy method for sex and age identification of unknown skulls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Hila
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peled
authors.forename: Gali
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dar
authors.forename: Haim
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Janan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Bahaa
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Medlej
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hershkovitz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005624:Frontal Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D006957:Hyperostosis Frontalis Interna / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D054881:Sex Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult