Time of fusion of greater cornu with body of hyoid bone in Northwest Indians

Time of fusion of hyoid is of considerable interest for forensic experts in estimating the age of an individual when unrecognized decomposed bodies or skeletal remains are available. The present investigation was carried out to study the age of fusion in 200 hyoid bones (133 males and 67 females) varying in age from 18 to 85 years. Fusion of greater cornu with the body of the hyoid bone was not seen till the age of 25 years in both sexes. In the males complete fusion was seen in 22(16.5%) bilaterally and 16(6.0%) unilaterally while in females it was observed in 18(26.9%) bilaterally and 10(7.5%) unilaterally. No significant sexual and side differences were found between the incidence of fusion of greater cornu with the body of hyoid in almost all the age groups except in the last age group (61 & above) where the sexual difference was highly significant (p < 0.001) in unilateral complete fusion and in total cases in bilateral complete fusion (p < 0.01). The lesser cornu was not fused with the junction or with greater cornu till the age of 35 years in males and 40 years in females. The maximum incidence of fusion of lesser cornu was observed in last age group of 61 years and above (55.6% males and 66.7% females). In conclusion estimation of age by using hyoid bone is not reliable as time of fusion of greater cornu with the body of hyoid is irregular. Subjects above the age of 60 years had either unilateral (13.2%) or bilateral (42.1%) nonfusion or also fusion (21.1% bilateral, 13.2% unilateral). The present method can be a supplementary approach for estimating age when the other skeletal remains are not available.