An investigation of time since injury: a radiographic study of fracture healing

Working at the junction of medicine and physical anthropology, this research investigates the rate of fracture healing. The ability to assign ages to fractures based on the degree of remodeling could be a valuable tool for identifying skeletal remains. This ability could differentiate between individuals with similar fractures and could also narrow the search of medical records for matches. Multiple radiographic images from 62 individuals were collected from the Baton Rouge Orthopaedic Clinic, including information on sex, ancestry, age of the individual, and age of the fracture. Breaks in the x-rays are categorized into one of six stages, defined on the basis of observable characteristics in radiographs. Variables of age, sex, ancestry, and type of fixation (ie, internal or external) are tested against the stage of the fracture and the time since the initial diagnosis of the fracture. Univariate analysis of variance shows that age is the only variable investigated in this study that repeatedly shows a significant correlation to the age of a particular fracture. Further research is needed to draw concrete conclusions and develop acceptable ranges for dating fractures