Estimation of stature from body parts

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Abstract

Anthropometric technique commonly used by anthropologists and adopted by medical scientists has been employed to estimate body size for over a hundred years. With the increasing frequency of mass disasters, the identification of an isolated lower extremity and the stature of the person it belonged to has created problems for the investigation of the identity of some of the victims. In spite of a need for such a study, there is a lack of systematic studies to identify fragmented and dismembered human remains. The purpose of the paper is to analyze anthropometric relationships between dimensions of the lower extremity and body height. Analysis is based on a sample of middle class male (N=203) and female (N=108) adult Turks residing in Istanbul. The participants are mostly students and staff members of a medical school, and military personnel. Measurements taken are stature, trochanteric height, thigh length, lower leg length, leg length, and foot height, breadth, and length. Of the five variables entered into the regression analysis, all but foot breadth participate in the analysis with leg length as the first and followed by thigh and foot lengths, and finally foot height in males (R2). There were also individually calculated formulae for some of these measurements which provided smaller R2-values. Student’s t-test to assess if there was any intraobserver error in measurements take by individual anthropometrist did not show such any statistically significant difference. In conclusion, the study suggested that estimation of a living height can be made possible using various dimensions of the lower extremity. One must consider differences between populations in order to apply functions as such to others.

Introduction

Anthropometric technique commonly used by anthropologists and adopted by medical scientists has been employed to estimate body size for over a hundred years [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. In the last half of the 20th century, studies have been more vigorous when skeletal collections have been assembled in many parts of the world [7], [8]. There has been an increase in the frequency of various mass disasters (air and train crash, bombing, mass suicide, flooding, powerful storm). To the list one should add the more recent tragedies such as the Marmara earthquake, Turkey and the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in the US where thousands of people were killed. There have been already some attempts using hand [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], lower leg length and arm span [16] and foot dimensions [17], [18], [19], [20] to regress on body height. The identification of an isolated lower extremity and the stature of the person it belonged to has created problems for the investigation of identity of some of the victims found in the rubbles of the bombed Oklahoma Federal building. In spite of a need as such, there is a lack of systematic studies to identify fragmented and dismembered human remains.

The purpose of the paper is to analyze anthropometric relationships between various dimensions of the lower extremity and body height. Analysis is based on a sample of middle class male and female adult Turks using various statistical subroutines particularly that of regression analysis.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The study is composed of 311 (203 males and 108 females) adult Turks. The participants are mostly from the Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty staff, students, staff from the Council of Forensic Medicine and military personnel who lived mostly in Istanbul. These individuals are considered middle class with at least 5 years of elementary education. Measurements are all taken from the left side according to the procedure described by the International Biological Program [21], [22], [23]. The subjects are

Results

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics per sex. Females are about 5 years older than males and smaller in all dimensions. Overall males are more varied with higher standard deviations than females.

Results of the primary stepwise regression analysis are given in Table 2. Measurements for the analysis consist of leg and foot dimensions and stature. Of the five variables entered into the analysis, all but foot breadth participate in the analysis with tibial length as the first and followed by

Discussion

Estimation of stature is a major forensic anthropological concern used in the identification of unknown and commingled human remains [6], [28], [29]. The procedure to estimate body height is to use its components. The accuracy is usually more reliable when the parts are situated along its length such as the lengths of the femur and tibia more so than the humerus and radius in the skeleton [8]. The present study takes this into the consideration and used similar measurements from the living

Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to participants of this study. Without their cooperation this study could not have been carried out. Authors thanks Dr. Sadi Çağdir for drawing Fig. 1 and Can Medical Inc. for their effort to supply the anthropometric equipment used in the study. This investigation is supported by the Istanbul University Research Fund (Project No. 1135/05052000).

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