Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul-Aug;60(4):190-192.
doi: 10.4103/nmj.NMJ_58_19. Epub 2019 Nov 25.

Validation of Age Determination with Historical Events in Birnin Kebbi, Northwest Nigeria

Folajimi Morenikeji Otubogun  1 , Nasiru Sanni  1 , Amina Lawal Bello  1
Affiliations

Validation of Age Determination with Historical Events in Birnin Kebbi, Northwest Nigeria

Folajimi Morenikeji Otubogun et al. Niger Med J. 2019 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Context: Birth registration is not universal and remains elusive for some people living in developing countries, such as Nigeria; hence, age determination for healthcare and health-related research is often problematic.

Aims: The aim is to validate the use of a historical events' scale as a tool for estimating the age of Nigerian adults residing in Birnin Kebbi, Northwest Nigeria.

Settings and design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Birnin Kebbi, a metropolitan capital city of Kebbi state, Northwest Nigeria, and included adults aged 18 years and older with a valid document indicating their year of birth.

Subjects and methods: Seven historical events comprising major national events were cross-referenced to the individual's personal history to estimate their ages, which were then compared to their documented ages.

Statistical analysis used: Relationship of the documented and estimated ages was assessed with the Spearman's rank-order correlation and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses.

Results: A total of 288 subjects (63.2% males) with a mean documented age of 34.5 ± 11.3 (range 18-75) years were surveyed. The mean estimated age was 32.5 ± 11.18 years. Spearman's rank-order correlation analysis showed a statistically strong positive correlation between the actual and estimated ages (0.953, P < 0.001). The ICC between documented and estimated ages was 0.968 (95% confidence interval = 0.959-0.975).

Conclusions: The use of this tool in Nigerian adults provides a reasonably accurate age estimation. Its use in populations and communities with inadequate birth registration may improve the quality of age-related health data in Nigerian adults.

Keywords: Age determination; Sub-Saharan Africa; demography; epidemiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Prince M. Methodological issues for population-based research into dementia in developing countries. A position paper from the 10/66 dementia research group. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2000;15:21–30. - PubMed
    1. Setel PW, Macfarlane SB, Szreter S, Mikkelsen L, Jha P, Stout S, et al. A scandal of invisibility: Making everyone count by counting everyone. Lancet. 2007;370:1569–77. - PubMed
    1. Cappa C, Wardlaw T. Every Child's Birth Right: Inequities and Trends in Birth Registration. United Nations Children's Fund, Data and Analytics Section, Division of Policy and Strategy. 2013
    1. Phillips DE, Adair T, Lopez AD. How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data. Popul Health Metr. 2018;16:21. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Information Sheet-Birth Registration-Nigeria. Nigeria: United Nations Children's Fund; 2007. United Nations Children's Fund.