Correlation Between the Stature and Cranial Measurements in Population of North India

Abstract

Introduction: Height has been one of the impressive factors for personal identification of individuals since long ago & has always been of immense interest to anthropologists & for medico-legal purposes in Forensic Medicine. Methods: The present study was conducted on 800 Students (400 male & 400 female) medical students of cosmopolitan origin, ranging from age group of 17 – 25 years of Western U.P. The measurements were taken at fixed time between 2 to 5 p.m. to eliminate the discrepancies due to diurnal variation. Results: Gender differences with respect to the mean cranial length, cranial breadths were found to be significantly larger in males compared to females. Correlation coefficient between the stature and measured cranial dimensions were found to be statistically significant and positive in both males and females. Independent linear regression analyses for predicting the stature using the head length and head breadth in both genders were: Male - Stature = 109.97+3.18 x hl; Stature = 107.64+4.19 x hb Female - Stature = 121.54+2.03 x hl; Stature = 114.88+2.58 x hb. For height & cranial dimensions measurements, all three estimates yielded a very high degree of precision (TEM < 0.5 cm, rTEM < 0.84%, and R ≥ 0.98). These results suggest that both height and cranial dimensions a are sufficiently precise for anthropometric research applications. Conclusion: If one of the parameter is known the other can be known by applying the regression equations and this is of paramount importance to the forensic and anthropology sciences.