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Third molar maturity index (I3M) for assessing age of majority: study of a black South African sample

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Abstract

Aims

The evaluation of the cutoff value of I3M = 0.08 for discriminating black South African minors from adults, and its relationship with chronological age.

Material and methods

A sample of 833 panoramic radiographs of healthy black South African subjects (500 females and 333 males), in the age range of 14 to 24 years (mean age 17.67 years in females and 17.42 years in males), was retrospectively evaluated.

Results

ICC values were 99.10% (95% CI 97.70 to 99.70%) and 99.20% (95% CI 98.00 to 99.60%), for the intra- and inter-observer reliability, respectively. I3M decreased as the real age gradually increased in both sexes. According to the logistic regression model, the variable sex was not significant when the probability that an individual is 18 years or older was calculated. The I3M = 0.08 was valuable in discriminating between adults and minors. The overall accuracy (ACC = fraction of accurately classified subjects) is 0.90 (95% CI 0.87–0.91); the proportion of correctly classified subjects (Se = sensitivity) is 0.80 (95% CI 0.76–0.84), and specificity (Sp) is 0.95 (95% CI 0.93–0.97). The PPV (predictive positive value) is 0.96 (95% CI 0.95–0.97), and the negative predictive value is 0.76 (95% CI 0.72–0.80).

Conclusion

The results show that I3M is a valuable method to distinguish subjects who are around legal adult age in South Africa.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dentistry, Division of Cariology and Endodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    N. Angelakopoulos

  2. Unidad Especial de Identificación Forense, Servicio Médico Legal, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    S. De Luca

  3. AgEstimation Project, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy

    S. De Luca, L. A. Velandia Palacio & R. Cameriere

  4. Department of Odontostomatologic and Specialized Clinical Sciences (DISCO), Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

    E. Coccia

  5. Center of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Medical Information Technology, Department of Biomedical Science and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

    L. Ferrante

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  1. N. Angelakopoulos
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Correspondence to S. De Luca.

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Angelakopoulos, N., De Luca, S., Velandia Palacio, L.A. et al. Third molar maturity index (I3M) for assessing age of majority: study of a black South African sample. Int J Legal Med 132, 1457–1464 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-018-1818-4

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