Estimation of stature and sex from skull measurements by multidetector computed tomography in Chinese.

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to estimation of stature and sex from skull measurements by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in contemporary Chinese. In the present study, fifteen measurements for every skull were taken from CT image of 382 Chinese. The sample was composed of 200 males and 182 females with an average age of 47 and 46 years, respectively. Discriminant function was used in sex determination and regression analysis was used in stature estimation from skull measurements. The stepwise analysis of all measurements yielded a sex classification accuracy rate of 89.3%. The classification accuracy rates of the univariate discriminant function analyses were from 50.5% to 84.8%. For stature estimation, the standard error of estimate (SEE) ranged from 5.072 to 6.355 cm for male, from 5.090 to 5.829 cm for female, respectively. This study is the first to provide a metric and statistical characterization of the skull in contemporary Chinese, and indicates that it is feasible to sex estimation by skull measurement. Furthermore, the equations presented for stature estimation in this study may be used as alternatives in forensic cases, particularly in cases where better predictors such as the long bones are not available.