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Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine 5/2022

03-05-2022 | Review

Reliability of aspartic acid racemization rate for chronological age estimation—a systematic review and meta-analysis

Authors: Jyotirmoy Roy, Jayakumar Jayaraman, Abraham Johnson

Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine | Issue 5/2022

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Abstract

Objective

The biochemical approach of dental age using aspartic acid racemization has been widely reported. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the reliability and accuracy of dental age estimation using aspartic acid racemization rate analysis.

Design

Eight research databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, Cochrane, MEDLINE, TRIP, Web of Science, and Scopus) were utilised to gather and assess published literatures in compliance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and reported in PROSPERO (CRD42020208877). This systematic review and meta-analysis focused solely on cross-sectional studies. The quality evaluation was performed using the GRADE system. The standardized mean difference between estimated and chronological age was meta-analyzed using the random effects model.

Result

The literature review yielded 213 studies, of which 26 were considered acceptable for inclusion in this report. Out of 26 studies, 19 presented sufficient evidence for meta-analysis and the remaining 7 were used to construct a qualitative review. According to the meta-analysis, premolar-related studies had the least variability (Tau2 = 0.23; I2 = 72%) among other tooth groups.

Conclusion

A substantial degree of heterogeneity was found in every type of tooth. Only the premolar teeth had lower degree variability; thus, it is safe to believe that the premolar tooth is the best for this type of age estimation. It is recommended to develop population-specific mathematical equations to improve the accuracy of this age estimation approach.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Reliability of aspartic acid racemization rate for chronological age estimation—a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors
Jyotirmoy Roy
Jayakumar Jayaraman
Abraham Johnson
Publication date
03-05-2022
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
International Journal of Legal Medicine / Issue 5/2022
Print ISSN: 0937-9827
Electronic ISSN: 1437-1596
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-022-02830-0

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