Estimation of Age From the Fusion of Body of Sternum in Central India Indore Region (M.P.)

Abstract

Age determination from unknown human skeletal remains or decomposed bodies is an  important initial step in forensic investigation. Accurate determination of skeletal age has been a  critical issue in medicolegal cases and the accuracy depends on the nature of material available and  the methods applied. Sternum is a bone which is easily retrievable even from the advanced  decomposed body and also from the bundle of bones, so it becomes a very important bone for age  and sex determination in the advanced stage of decomposition and from mutilated, fragmented  bodies.  In our study we have taken a total of 770 subjects of which 432 were male and 338 female, in  the age group of 10 to 70 years and the data analysis was done by using SPSS software and p-value  and standard deviation was calculated. At the end, conclusions were drawn which were inconsistent  with available literatures. In our study, age estimation in relation to fusion of sternal body segment  was found inconclusive.