Age Estimation of Punjabi Adolescent Females By Non–Invasive Method Viz Secondary Sexual Development From Chandigarh Zone of Northwest India

Currently, work on age estimation by non-invasive methods has become common in medico legal cases because of its ease of conduction and being economical especially in the rural areas, where hi- tech equipment's are not available. Since literature on such work is scarce, the present study took 312 adolescent girls of Punjabi parentage, aged 6—16years, belonging to middle socioeconomic group, selected randomly from schools of Chandigarh. Ages of females at Secondary sexual development stages viz. breast and pubic hair development, presence or absence of axillary hair and menarche were observed. The results showed the age of females with breast stage 2 to be 9 years (100%), 10 years (67%) or 11years (67%). Menarche was first seen at 9 years in 7% cases and was 100% at 13 years. Age of females with pubic hair stage 2 was11years (22%) and 12 years (10%).Pubic hair stage 5 was seen at 15 (67%) and 16(100%) years. First presence of axillary hair was at 10 years (8%) and was 100% at 16 years. The authenticity of this study was based on comparison with similar Indian studies by Indian council of medical research.