Observer error in assessing age-related morphology using digital photographs of the pubic symphyseal face

Abstract

Abstract Forensic anthropologists have long utilised visual assessment of morphological characteristics to establish a biological profile in order to assign an identity to undocumented remains. The present study used the Suchey-Brooks method to estimate ages based on pubic symphysis metamorphosis, as this method may be vulnerable to inherent subjectivity in the assessment of the qualitative phase. This study examines the observer agreement on the pubic symphysis metamorphosis assessment based on digital photographs. A total of 11 observers, with varying levels of qualification and experience, scored 10 pubic symphyses from the collection housed in the Department of Forensic Medicine Hospital Serdang. Fleiss’ Kappa was used in order to assess inter-observer agreement. Results showed that the overall agreement percentage for all observers was 28% (κ = 0.14), slightly increasing to 50% (κ = 0.40) when taking into account only the score given by observers who also have experience with photographs of skeletal remains. Understanding the role of observer agreement (i.e., reliability and reproducibility) is critical for the assessment of age-related morphology from pubic symphysis digital images. This study highlights a problem with the Suchey-Brooks method in assessing age, which was due to inter-observer error. The difficulty in interpreting the characteristic descriptions, especially in digital photographs, emphasises the need for proper training in skeletal morphology assessment.