When there is a high rate of subadults going through the medical examiner’s office (MEO), it is important to determine if there is a common underlying reason. The role of the MEO is to conduct forensic investigations, but also to assist with public health surveillance. Because these roles go hand-in-hand, the MEO often detects epidemics before any public health entity does. By evaluating the decedent’s length and weight-at-death and comparing them to expected values, based on their sex and age as published by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, it can provide insight into their lives. When subadults are unidentified and go through the MEO, methods based on dental development or long bone measurements can be used to estimate age-at-death. Because the methods available for age estimation from long bone measurements are not based on data from modern populations, it is important to validate them. This study involved the evaluation of the length and weight measurements (collected at autopsy from decedents whose deaths were investigated by one Michigan MEO), and upper arm measurements (measured from radiographs, also collected at autopsy). The weight and length (measured crown to heel) were used to see if the decedents align with expected values; long bone measurements were used to estimate the skeletal age of the decedents. Overall, the decedents in this sample weigh more and have shorter lengths than expected, based on published standards, and the estimated ages of the full sample are not significantly different from their known ages-at-death.
","abstract_html":"<p>When there is a high rate of subadults going through the medical examiner’s office (MEO), it is important to determine if there is a common underlying reason. The role of the MEO is to conduct forensic investigations, but also to assist with public health surveillance. Because these roles go hand-in-hand, the MEO often detects epidemics before any public health entity does. By evaluating the decedent’s length and weight-at-death and comparing them to expected values, based on their sex and age as published by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, it can provide insight into their lives. When subadults are unidentified and go through the MEO, methods based on dental development or long bone measurements can be used to estimate age-at-death. Because the methods available for age estimation from long bone measurements are not based on data from modern populations, it is important to validate them. This study involved the evaluation of the length and weight measurements (collected at autopsy from decedents whose deaths were investigated by one Michigan MEO), and upper arm measurements (measured from radiographs, also collected at autopsy). The weight and length (measured crown to heel) were used to see if the decedents align with expected values; long bone measurements were used to estimate the skeletal age of the decedents. Overall, the decedents in this sample weigh more and have shorter lengths than expected, based on published standards, and the estimated ages of the full sample are not significantly different from their known ages-at-death.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Carroll, Megan E"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Interdisciplinary","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Jane Harris"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z","subjects":["growth and development","medical examiner's office (MEO)","forensic investigation","subadult skeletal system","WHO growth charts","CDC growth charts","long bone measurements","radiographs","forensic anthropology","Biological and Physical Anthropology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/890","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Jane Harris"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Carroll, Megan E"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2030-07-13T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Interdisciplinary"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["growth and development","medical examiner's office (MEO)","forensic investigation","subadult skeletal system","WHO growth charts","CDC growth charts","long bone measurements","radiographs","forensic anthropology","Biological and Physical Anthropology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/890"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["When there is a high rate of subadults going through the medical examiner’s office (MEO), it is important to determine if there is a common underlying reason. The role of the MEO is to conduct forensic investigations, but also to assist with public health surveillance. Because these roles go hand-in-hand, the MEO often detects epidemics before any public health entity does. By evaluating the decedent’s length and weight-at-death and comparing them to expected values, based on their sex and age as published by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, it can provide insight into their lives. When subadults are unidentified and go through the MEO, methods based on dental development or long bone measurements can be used to estimate age-at-death. Because the methods available for age estimation from long bone measurements are not based on data from modern populations, it is important to validate them. This study involved the evaluation of the length and weight measurements (collected at autopsy from decedents whose deaths were investigated by one Michigan MEO), and upper arm measurements (measured from radiographs, also collected at autopsy). The weight and length (measured crown to heel) were used to see if the decedents align with expected values; long bone measurements were used to estimate the skeletal age of the decedents. Overall, the decedents in this sample weigh more and have shorter lengths than expected, based on published standards, and the estimated ages of the full sample are not significantly different from their known ages-at-death.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["AN ASSESSMENT OF SUBADULT SKELETAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT BASED ON A MICHIGAN MEDICAL EXAMINER SAMPLE"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Jane Harris"],"dc:creator":["Carroll, Megan E"],"dc:date.available":["2030-07-13T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["When there is a high rate of subadults going through the medical examiner’s office (MEO), it is important to determine if there is a common underlying reason. The role of the MEO is to conduct forensic investigations, but also to assist with public health surveillance. Because these roles go hand-in-hand, the MEO often detects epidemics before any public health entity does. By evaluating the decedent’s length and weight-at-death and comparing them to expected values, based on their sex and age as published by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, it can provide insight into their lives. When subadults are unidentified and go through the MEO, methods based on dental development or long bone measurements can be used to estimate age-at-death. Because the methods available for age estimation from long bone measurements are not based on data from modern populations, it is important to validate them. This study involved the evaluation of the length and weight measurements (collected at autopsy from decedents whose deaths were investigated by one Michigan MEO), and upper arm measurements (measured from radiographs, also collected at autopsy). The weight and length (measured crown to heel) were used to see if the decedents align with expected values; long bone measurements were used to estimate the skeletal age of the decedents. Overall, the decedents in this sample weigh more and have shorter lengths than expected, based on published standards, and the estimated ages of the full sample are not significantly different from their known ages-at-death.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/890"],"dc:subject":["growth and development","medical examiner's office (MEO)","forensic investigation","subadult skeletal system","WHO growth charts","CDC growth charts","long bone measurements","radiographs","forensic anthropology","Biological and Physical Anthropology"],"dc:title":["AN ASSESSMENT OF SUBADULT SKELETAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT BASED ON A MICHIGAN MEDICAL EXAMINER SAMPLE"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Interdisciplinary"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z"}