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Abstract
Sex estimates is a key step of biological profile assessment in a forensic or anthropologic context. In this study, the sexual dimorphism of the frontal bone was analyzed to assess the accuracy of sex estimates using a geometric morphometric approach in a pre-pubertal and post-pubertal sample. The shape of the frontal bone was digitized on the lateral cephalograms of 87 pre-pubertal subjects (42 males, mean age 10.14, SD ± 1.48 years; 45 females mean age 10.02, SD ± 1.11 years) and 103 post-pubertal ones (53 males, mean age 29.33 SD ± 11.88 years; 50 females, mean age 26.77 SD ± 11.07 years). A generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA) was performed for shape analyses, filtering the effects of position, rotation, translation, and size. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the GPA transformed variables, and a multiple logistic regression model was used to assess the accuracy of sex estimates. In both age groups, the average size of the centroid was significantly larger in males. The females presented shapes with a shorter distance between P2 (glabella) and P1 (supratoral) and a general narrowing of the structure on the sagittal plane. In the pre-pubertal group, the shape difference was not statistically significant. In the post-pubertal group, the mean shape was significantly different between the sexes. The method displayed a high accuracy for sex estimates (88.7% males, 90.3% females) also when applied in a validation sample (82.6% males and 94.1% females). The described morphometric analysis of the frontal bone is based on a limited number of landmarks, which allows sex estimates with high accuracy in post-pubertal subjects, while it is not applicable in pre-pubertal ones.
Highlights
In a forensic context, sex estimates is a key step in the biologic profile assessment of unknown human remains
The discriminating accuracy of the method when applied in the validation sample was only slightly lower in the male sub-group than the one obtained in the main sample (82.6% males and 94.1% females). This is the first study addressing frontal bone sexual dimorphism in a pre-pubertal and postpubertal pool of Spanish individuals through a geometric morphometric approach performed on lateral cephalometric radiographs
DNA analysis is the gold standard for sex estimates in a forensic setting, but in some contexts, a morphological approach is preferred because it is more cost-effective or for being the only viable one due to a too small, altered, or degraded sample, as is the case in a paleoanthropological context [15]
Summary
In a forensic context, sex estimates is a key step in the biologic profile assessment of unknown human remains. Sex estimates can be performed through a morphological examination of traits significantly associated with sex The accuracy of this type of assessment depends on the operator’s training and experience, which is subjective and characterized by a low intra- and inter-operator reliability due to the qualitative nature of the data [7]. Geometric morphometry is an effective and validated method of describing and analyzing the geometry and configuration of a set of landmarks They enable discrimination between shape and size and eliminate the shape variables that depend on size from those that are functions of other variables, as is the case for the sex of an individual [9]. These diagrams are easy to understand and allow for a straightforward way of data interpretation and communication [10]
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