Abstract
It is currently unknown whether morphological sex estimation traits are accurately portrayed on virtual bone models, and this hampers the use of virtual bone models as an alternative source of contemporary skeletal reference data. This study determines whether commonly used morphological sex estimation traits can be accurately scored on virtual 3D pelvic bone elements. Twenty-seven intact cadavers from the body donation program of the Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, were CT scanned; this data was used to produce virtual bone models. Thereafter, the dry bones were obtained. Three traits by Klales (2012) and five traits from the Workshop of European Anthropologists (WEA) (1980) were scored on the virtual bone models and their dry skeletal counterparts. Intra- and inter-observer agreement and the agreement between the scores for each virtual bone model-dry bone pair were calculated using weighted Cohen’s kappa (K). For all Klales (2012) traits, intra- and inter-observer agreement was substantial to almost perfect for the virtual- and dry bones (K = 0.62–0.90). The agreement in scores in the virtual-dry bone pairs ranged from moderate to almost perfect (K = 0.58–0.82). For the WEA (1980) traits, intra-observer agreement was substantial to almost perfect (K = 0.64–0.91), but results were less unambiguous for inter-observer agreement (K = 0.24–0.88). Comparison of the scores between the virtual bone models and the dry bones yielded kappa values of 0.42–0.87. On one hand, clinical CT data is a promising source for contemporary forensic anthropological reference data, but the interchangeability of forensic anthropological methods between virtual bone models and dry skeletal elements needs to be tested further.
Highlights
IntroductionSex estimation is a key component for creating a forensic anthropological biological profile as the estimation of the other biological profile elements (age at death, stature, and ancestry) relies heavily on the accurate estimation of sex
Sex estimation is a key component for creating a forensic anthropological biological profile as the estimation of the other biological profile elements relies heavily on the accurate estimation of sex
Cohen’s weighted kappa (K) values indicate substantial to almost perfect agreement for the intra- and inter-observer agreement for the three Klales (2012) traits when scored in isolation on the dry bones (K = 0.78–0.89 and 0.61–0.77), as well as on the virtual bone models using both software packages
Summary
Sex estimation is a key component for creating a forensic anthropological biological profile as the estimation of the other biological profile elements (age at death, stature, and ancestry) relies heavily on the accurate estimation of sex. Due to differences in reproductive function the pelvis is considered to be the most sexually dimorphic skeletal element in humans and the most reliable skeletal element for sex estimation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Both metric and morphological sex estimation methods exist, but the latter is often favored because of the ease of application and applicability across populations and time [8,9,10]. Large known skeletal populations exist in numerous parts of the world (e.g. the USA, South Africa, Thailand) and have been used in development and validation studies [7, Int J Legal Med (2019) 133:1853–1860
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