ABSTRACT:
Background: For establishing identity, sex and stature are important parameters in medico-legal examination. It becomes difficult to identify the deceased, when extremely decomposed and mutilated dead bodies with fragmentary remains are brought for postmortem examination. Sometimes, cephalo-facial remains are brought in for forensic examination. In such a situation, sex determination and stature estimation become equally essential along with other parameters like age and race.
Aim: The present research attempts to determine sex and estimate stature from various six maxillofacial anthropometric measurements in Egyptian individuals.
Participants and methods: The study was prospectively conducted from the start of September 2016 to the end of October 2016 in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine MUST University. A total of 227 healthy participants were Egyptian medical students and members of the university, comprising 118 males and 109 females, in the age group of 18 to 40 years. The height of all subjects was measured by an anthropometric rod, and facial measurements were taken using a sliding caliper. Data were subjected to statistical analysis like Indices of separation (d/s) and the probability of correct sex determination, Karl Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) and multiple regression analysis was done to calculate the best equation in the determination of sex and estimation of stature.
Results: The average height of males and females was 171.6 ( 6.3) cm and 159.2 ( 5.7) cm respectively. The results showed that the differences between all male and female variables exhibited statistically significant differences (P < 0.001). Also, it indicated that all the maxillo-facial measurements were positively correlated (p < 0.001) with stature.
Conclusions: Maxillofacial measurements were significantly related to gender and higher in males. Also, the use of measurements in stature estimation calculated by regression analysis was successful. So, we can conclude that regression models generated from facial measurements can be a supplementary approach for the prediction of sex and estimation of stature when extremities are not available.
Keywords: Forensic examination, Stature estimation, sex determination, maxillo-facial anthropometry, Egyptian individuals.