Calcification of Thyroid Cartilage: A Radiographic Tool for Age Determination Among Adults and Middle-aged of Malnad Region, India

Determination of age is essential in various civil and criminal circumstances. In the early part of life developmental processes like dentition, ossification, physical growth parameters are used and where as in later part of life aging processes like degenerative changes, calcification etc are used. Both these sets of assessment depend on multiple factors like ethnicity, genetics, sex, geography etc. Our study highlights the use of thyroid cartilage calcification in determination of age among middle and elderly individuals of Malnad region. Statistically significant progression of thyroid cartilage calcification (‘p’ of <0.001) with advancing age with an early calcification in females is observed in our study of 200 samples. This can be used as an additional parameter for radiographic assessment of age among adults and middle aged. However, it is advised not to use this criterion alone for age estimation in the middle aged and elderly.