The influence of bone loss on the three adult age markers of the innominate.

Abstract

To evaluate the influence of bone loss on the three adult age markers of the innominate, 30 males and 30 females aged between 16 and 80 years coming from the British Coventry collection were analyzed. The pubic symphysis, auricular surface, and acetabulum age variables were evaluated following the descriptions of Schmitt, Buckberry-Chamberlain, and Rissech, respectively. The second metacarpal cortical index was used to evaluate bone loss. Possible sexual differences in metrical variables were explored by a Student t-test taking into account the entire sample. The possible relationships between the cortical index and the three age methods' stages were assessed by the Kruskall-Wallis test and Spearman's correlation coefficient. There were no sexual differences in the cortical index. In general, we observed no significant differences between the cortical index in the different stages of the pubic symphysis, auricular surface, or acetabulum variables in men and women. Most correlation coefficients are negatives, and their absolute values are between 0.001 and 0.44, indicating an extremely low influence of bone loss on the analyzed variables. Our findings suggest little influence of bone loss in the three ageing methods. However, further research on this topic is necessary. This is the first study to analyze the influence of bone loss in the ageing changes undergone by the variables of the three adult age indicators of the innominate taking into account both sexes