Sex estimation from skull measurements of a contemporary Japanese population using three-dimensional computed tomography images.

Abstract

In this study, we assessed the sexual dimorphism of the contemporary Japanese skull and established sex discriminant function equations based on cranial measurements using three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) images. The CT images of 263 corpses (142 males, 121 females) that underwent postmortem CT scanning and subsequent forensic autopsy were evaluated. Twenty-one cranial measurements were obtained from 3D CT reconstructed images, which extracted only bone data. We performed descriptive statistics and discriminant function analyses for the measurements. Nineteen measurements were significantly larger in males, suggesting sexual dimorphism of the Japanese skulls. Univariate discriminant function analyses using these measurements showed a sex classification accuracy of 57.8-88.2%, and bizygomatic breadth provided the highest correct prediction rate. Multivariate discriminant function analyses offered the most accurate model using seven variables with an estimation rate of 93.9%. Our results suggest that cranial measurements based on 3D CT images may help in the sex estimation of unidentified bodies in a contemporary Japanese population.