Sex determination using anthropometric measurements from multi-slice computed tomography of the 12th thoracic and the first lumbar vertebrae among adult Egyptians

Abstract

IntroductionIdentification of the dismembered and skeletal remains has been a chal-lenge for forensic anthropologists. AimTherefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the sexual dimorphism from the 12th thoracic and the first lumbar vertebra measurements data obtained from reformatted images of multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) and to derive equations for sex determination in the Egyptian population. Subjects and methodsThe study was conducted on 120 adult Egyptian patients (54 males and 66 females) with a mean age of 37.1 ± 6.01. Twenty-four linear measurements were taken from the 12th thoracic and L1 vertebrae and then four ratios were calculated. The data was analyzed by the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. Accuracies and regression equations for sex determination were then derived. ResultsFourteen measurements out of the 24 linear measurements showed significant sex differences when using the 12th thoracic vertebra. As regards to the first lumbar vertebra, only seven linear measurements and one ratio of the posterior height of the vertebral body/anterior height of the vertebral body (VBHp/VBHa) were sexually dimorphic. The percentage of accuracy of the 12th thoracic vertebra was found to be 93.1%, while that of the first lumbar was 68.0%. When combining the two vertebrae the accuracy increased to above 95% (96.3%). ConclusionFinally, it was concluded that the 12th thoracic vertebra is more accurate for sex determination than the first lumbar vertebra in the Egyptian population, which means that bone dimensions are population specific.