NCJ Number
218770
Date Published
July 2002
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study explored the efficacy of estimating sex using 5 measurements from the femurs of 200 male and 80 female residents of central India.
Abstract
The results revealed that sex could be correctly assigned to 92 percent of males and 96.3 percent of females using a combination of three measurements of the femur. Moreover, the femoral extremities demonstrated superior classification accuracy when compared to the shaft dimensions, all measurements taken revealed a highly significant sex difference. The highest relative variation between males and females was found in the anteroposterior diameter of the femoral shaft. The findings support the argument that osteometric assessment is highly population-specific. Data were comprised of the femoral bones of 200 males and 80 females drawn from the Medico-Legal Institute of Bhopal, India. Most of the bones under analysis were forensic samples stored since 1973. Future research should continue to assess measurements in the south Asian population to provide more information about racial variation and to offer more osteometric standards for assessing sex. The analysis involved subjecting 20 sets of femora to a paired t-test and a set of 5 anthropometric measurements taken on each femur: maximum length, maximum diameter of the head, midshaft circumference, maximum anteroposterior diameter of the femoral shaft, and epicondylar width. The optimal combination of measurements for assessing sex was determined using stepwise discriminate function analysis using the SPSSX Subroutine software. Figures, references