Effect of Pregnancy on Bone Age

Abstract

Purpose: Age estimation for forensic purposes has an important place among daily Forensic Medicine services. Although many factors affect skeletal development, hormonal factors are among the most influencing factors. With this study, it is aimed to contribute to the literature on this subject by detecting any changes in the development of bone age with the effect of hormonal changes during pregnancy. Materials and Methods: Cases referred to Çukurova University Forensic Medicine Polyclinic between March 2017-2021 with the request of the forensic authorities to estimate the bone age, and who declared that the date of birth in their official documents was correct; gender, identity age, age at marriage, having children, the reasons for asking for age estimation, the claim at which age they were, the bone ages determined were recorded, and the evaluations of the cases were made according to the Greulich-Pyle and Gilsanz-Ratib Atlases. Results: It was observed that the rate of having a child and not getting pregnant was half of the 70 cases who met the study criteria. According to the bone age estimations made, it was seen that 60 cases were suitable for the population registry, 9 cases were considered to be larger than the population registry. Conclusion: An objective, standardized assessment of age estimation cases is crucial. For this reason, we suggest that diseases that may affect bone development, conditions that may affect body development such as pregnancy, and personal factors should be evaluated with a multidisciplinary approach consisting of radiology and forensic medicine physicians.

Keywords

• adolescence
• after pregnancy
• age determination
• bone age assessment