ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2021
Twenty-five years of unidentified bodies: an account from Milano, Italy.
Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Non-metric traits of the cranium: are they related one with each other? A novel approach to skeletal variants.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Medico-legal identification of unidentified bodies and missing persons in Milan and Paris: a comparative institutional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Forensic skeletal and molecular anthropology face to face: Combining expertise for identification of human remains.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- A Forensic Approach to Complex Identification Cases: The Collapse of an Italian Cemetery into the Sea.Genes · 2025Article
- Who are they? A retrospective study of unidentified bodies in Institute of Medical-Legal Paris from 2018 to 2023.Forensic sciences research · 2024Article
- Exploring the role of the human microbiome in forensic identification: opportunities and challenges.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Review
- Commentary on: Management of unidentified and unclaimed bodies: a comparison of model from four countries in the Asia Pacific Region.Forensic science, medicine, and pathology · 2024Article
- Why identification matters: an explorative study on six cases of family reunification.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Article
- Transcending time: the forensic anthropological case study of three unidentified transgender women in Italy in the early 1990s.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Article
- The impact of climate change and sustainability initiatives on forensic practice.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2024Article
- Identification issues in bodies maimed by train fatalities: The role of the forensic pathologist.Forensic science, medicine, and pathology · 2023Article
- Article
- The rights of migrants to the identification of their dead: an attempt at an identification strategy from Italy.International journal of legal medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The identification of decedents has always been a central issue in forensic pathology, for ethical, criminal, and administrative reasons, but today, it needs more attention due to issues related not only to migration but also to the weakening of family ties. This article presents a descriptive study discussing the Italian regulatory situation developed in the last decade to face the many identification issues, with all its improvements and flaws. Hence, data gathered in 25 years of at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan and the epidemiology of unidentified decedents are illustrated. Briefly, from 1995 to 2019, the number of unidentified human remains with no identity or requesting verification of identity amounts to 726, i.e., 3% circa of all autopsies performed at the Institute, with an average of 29 individuals per year. In total, 528 (72.7%) individuals were successfully identified, 100 (13.8%) remained without an identity, and 98 (13.5%) individuals remained with suspected yet unconfirmed identities. Percentages for each identification technique are displayed, with insight into the role of forensic anthropology and odontology compared to genetics, and into the misuse of non-scientific methods allowed by Public Prosecutors. All the data is compared, as much as possible, with the very few recent studies concerning the problem worldwide. Finally, the article aims to show the Italian experience in dealing with unidentified bodies, in order to provide food for thought for other countries toward a discussion regarding a global issue which is sometimes taken for granted and underestimated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
33748873What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.