Elsevier

Legal Medicine

Volume 12, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 23-27
Legal Medicine

Estimation of stature from facial measurements in northwest Indians

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2009.10.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Estimation of stature is one of the important component in identification of human remains in forensic anthropology. The present investigation attempts to estimate stature from seven facial measurements of 300 (173 males and 127 females) healthy subjects between the ages of 18–70 years from Northwest India. Height of all the subjects was measured and facial measurements were taken. Data was subjected to statistical analysis like mean, standard deviation, multiplication factors, Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r), linear and multiple regression analyses using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The average height of the subjects was in the range of 154.3–178.3 cm in males and 155.1–168.4 cm in females. Estimated stature calculated by regression analysis of seven facial measurements was almost similar to mean actual stature in both males and females and the difference by using multiplication factors was found to be greater. Standard error of estimation (SEE) computed both by linear and multiple regression analyses was found to be low for the two sexes. Thus we can conclude that regression equations generated from facial measurements can be a supplementary approach for the estimation of stature when extremities are not available.

Introduction

Forensic anthropology deals with the identification of unrecognizable human remains usually in skeletal form by determination of age, sex, race and stature. Stature or body height is one of the primary and useful tool used in personal identification. Estimation of stature from various body parts like extremities is well documented in other countries [1], [2], [3] as well as in India [4], [5], [6], [7].

However, it becomes difficult when only a bare skull is available for identification purposes and one has to estimate the stature of the deceased. Search of the available literature shows that some authors have given mathematical formulae to determine stature from cranial diameters [8] while others have formulated regression equations from somatometry of the skulls [9], [10]. More recently, applicability of regression equations generated from the cephalo-facial measurements for stature estimation has been greatly emphasized [11], [12], [13], [14], [15].

These equations are both population and sex specific, hence, the present study has been undertaken to investigate the usefulness of facial measurements in estimation of adult stature and to compare the reliability of stature estimation by multiplication factor, and regression analysis.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Data for the present study consisted of 300 adults (173 males, 127 females) belonging to Chandigarh zone of Northwest India (NWI) in the age group of 18–70 years (mean age 36.30 years). Seven facial measurements along with the stature of the subjects were taken according to standard anthropometric procedures [16]. The measurements taken are defined as follows:

  • 1.

    Stature/height vertex: It measures the vertical distance from vertex (v) to floor.

  • 2.

    Total face height (n–gn): It measures the straight

Results

The subjects were classified into six height categories (Table 1) according to Martin’s stature classification [16]. It is seen from this table that the maximum number of males (47.1%) falls in the category of medium (164.0–166.9 cm) and minimum (4.1%) in the category of short stature (150.0–159.9 cm). Similarly, in females, the maximum frequency (81.7%) was observed in the category of tall (159.0–167.9 cm) and minimum (0.8%) in the medium category (153.0–155.9 cm). No male was found in the

Discussion

It becomes very difficult for a forensic scientist/anthropologist when isolated remains of head, face, or skull are brought for forensic examination, as the standards available in this direction are scanty. Therefore, facial measurements act as a useful in the absence of the other evidences for stature estimation. This study seems to be more useful in the case of fragmentary facial remains. With the help of the exact knowledge of how the soft tissue landmarks of face and their thicknesses

Conclusions

Estimation of stature from facial measurements is a supplementary approach when useful samples like extremities or other body parts are not available for examination. Regression equations are found to be more reliable than multiplication factors.

Conflict of interest

Authors have no financial or personal conflict of interest regarding this manuscript.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi and Directorate of Forensic Sciences, New Delhi for financial support. Corresponding author has full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

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