Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31189026›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of physical anthropology2019

Facial aging trajectories: A common shape pattern in male and female faces is disrupted after menopause.

Sonja Windhager, Philipp Mitteroecker, Ivana Rupić, Tomislav Lauc, Ozren Polašek, Katrin Schaefer

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of physical anthropology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
75.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
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  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Observational
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  11. Article
  12. From Calibrated Morphs to Facial Stimuli: The Beauty of a Statistically Informed Picture.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Observational
  15. Review
  16. Estimating Maxillary Sinus Volume Using Smartphone Camera.IEEE open journal of engineering in medicine and biology · 2025
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  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Sonja WindhagerDepartment of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0003-1809-8678
Philipp MitteroeckerDepartment of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Austria.
Ivana RupićDental Clinic Apolonija, Zagreb, Croatia.
Tomislav LaucDental Clinic Apolonija, Zagreb, Croatia.
Ozren PolašekDepartment of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Split, Croatia.
Katrin SchaeferDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-0173-3092
University of Vienna · ATUniversity of Split · HRUniversity of Zagreb · HR

Funding

Austrian Science Fund P29397Austrian Science Fund FWF P 29397Hrvatska Zaklada za Znanost 05-PAR-02-2016
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesDespite variation in lifestyle and environment, first signs of human facial aging show between the ages of 20-30 years. It is a cumulative process of changes in the skin, soft tissue, and skeleton of the face. As quantifications of facial aging in living humans are still scarce, we set out to study age-related changes in three-dimensional facial shape using geometric morphometrics. MATERIALS AND

methodsWe collected surface scans of 88 human faces (aged 26-90 years) from the coastal town Split (Croatia) and neighboring islands. Based on a geometric morphometric analysis of 585 measurement points (landmarks and semilandmarks), we modeled sex-specific trajectories of average facial aging.

resultsAge-related facial shape change was similar in both sexes until around age 50, at which time the female aging trajectory turned sharply. The overall magnitude of facial shape change (aging rate) was higher in women than men, especially in early postmenopause. Aging was generally associated with a flatter face, sagged soft tissue ("broken" jawline), deeper nasolabial folds, smaller visible areas of the eyes, thinner lips, and longer nose and ears. In postmenopausal women, facial aging was best predicted by the years since last menstruation and mainly attributable to bone resorption in the mandible. DISCUSSION: With high spatial and temporal resolution, we were able to extract a shared facial aging pattern in women and men, and its divergence after menopause. This fully quantitative three-dimensional analysis of human facial aging may not only find applications in forensic and ancient human facial reconstructions, but shall include lifestyle and endocrinological measures, and also reach out to studies of social perception.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overAgingAnthropology, PhysicalFaceFemaleHumansMaleMenopauseMiddle AgedModels, Statisticalagingfacegeometric morphometricsmenopause

Identifiers

PMID31189026
PMCPMC6771603
OpenAlexW2951808774

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.