Sex estimation from the radiographic measurements of the humerus

Year 2010, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 99 - 108, 30.12.2010

Derya Atamtürk , M. Akif Akçal İzzet Duyar , Nuket Mas

Abstract

Diagnosis of sex from skeleton or individual bones is vital to bio-archaeology and forensic
anthropology. The aims of this study are to examine the applicability of the measurements
taken from the humerus to assess sex, and to contribute to establishing discriminant function
equations for Anatolian populations for medico legal applications. The material for this study
consisted of archived x-ray films of patients who enter the clinics of emergency and elective
orthopedics of Göztepe Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul. In total, 84 x-ray films (46
females and 38 males) were analyzed. The ages of the individuals vary between 20 and 79
years, with an average of 48.96 years. Five dimensions, including maximum length, vertical
head diameter, head + greater tubercle diameter, right-left diameter at midshaft, and epicondylar breadth were taken and subjected to direct and stepwise discriminant function analysis.
Our analyses revealed that the proximal part of the humerus have greater diagnostic accuracy
than distal and middle parts. Accuracy of correct classification varies between 73.2% (rightleft diameter at midshaft) and 93.2% (vertical head diameter) for univariate analyses. When
the multivariate analyses were conducted, three functions were produced, with the accuracy of
ranging between 90.0% and 92.7%. These findings suggested that the dimensions of the
humerus, especially the measurements taken from the proximal parts, could be used successfully for sex diagnosis.

Keywords

Forensic anthropology, forensic anthropometry, sex determination, humerus, discriminant function analysis

References

• Bass WM. (1995) Human osteology: a laboratory and field manual of the human skeletal. Missouri Archaeological Society, Columbia.