Accuracy of geometric morphometrics for age estimation using frontal face photographs of children and adolescents: A promising method for forensic practice.

Autor: Damascena NP; Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Sergipe, Rua Claudio Batista s/n, 49060-100, Aracaju, Brazil; Investigative Pathology Laboratory, Federal University of Sergipe, Rua Claudio Batista s/n, 49060-100, Aracaju, Brazil., Lima SVMA; Department of Nursing, Federal University of Sergipe, Rua Claudio Batista s/n, 49060-100, Aracaju, Brazil., Santiago BM; Center for Forensic Medicine and Dentistry, Institute of Science Police of Paraiba, Rua Antônio Teotônio, 58071-620, Paraiba, Brazil; Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Paraiba, Loteamento Cidade Universitária, 58051-900, Paraiba, Brazil., Alemán-Aguilera I; Laboratory of Anthropology, Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, University of Granada, Avda. de la Investigación, 11, 18006, Granada, Spain., Cunha E; University of Coimbra, Centre for Functional Ecology, Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology, Department of Life Sciences, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal; National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Rua Manuel Bento de Sousa, 3, 1169-201, Lisboa, Portugal., Machado CEP; National Institute of Criminalistics, Brazilian Federal Police, Setor Policial Sul, 70610-902, Distrito Federal, Brazil., Martins-Filho PR; Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Sergipe, Rua Claudio Batista s/n, 49060-100, Aracaju, Brazil; Investigative Pathology Laboratory, Federal University of Sergipe, Rua Claudio Batista s/n, 49060-100, Aracaju, Brazil. Electronic address: prmartinsfh@gmail.com.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of forensic and legal medicine [J Forensic Leg Med] 2024 Aug; Vol. 106, pp. 102734. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 30.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2024.102734
Abstrakt: Age estimation is crucial in legal and humanitarian contexts. Forensic professionals may use various procedures to estimate age, including dental analysis, bone density tests, evaluation of physical characteristics including facial bone structure and development, and image-based methods. Although images are often the only material available, visual observation of photographic material is an imprecise method in age estimation, which can compromise judicial decision-making. Analyzing 4000 photographs from the Brazilian Federal Police database, representing four age groups (6, 10, 14, and 18 years), the study employed automated analysis by marking 28 photogrammetric points. Data were used to establish facial patterns by age and sex using the facial geometric morphometrics method. Performance was assessed through a Multinomial Logistic Regression model, evaluating accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity across the categorical age groups. Analyses were conducted using R software, with a 5 % significance level. The study found that facial geometric morphometrics achieved an overall accuracy of 69.3 % in age discrimination, with higher accuracy in males (74.7 %) compared to females (65.8 %) (p < 0.001). The method excelled at predicting the age of 6-year-olds with 87.3 % sensitivity and 95.6 % specificity but had lower performance at 14 years. It showed greater accuracy in distinguishing age groups with larger age gaps, achieving up to 99.5 % accuracy between certain groups, and was particularly effective in differentiating ages of 6 and 10 years in females and 10, 14, and 18 years in males. The facial geometric morphometrics emerges as a promising approach for age estimation among children and adolescents in forensic settings.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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