Raghavendra Babu Y P, Kanchan Tanuj, Attiku Yamini, Dixit Prashanth Narayan, Kotian M S
Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2012 Apr;19(3):162-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2011.12.019. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
Identification of skeletal remains is vital in forensic investigations. The need for methods to estimate sex from cranial fragments becomes apparent when only a part of skull is brought for identification. The present research is an attempt to study the sexual dimorphism of the anteroposterior diameter, transverse diameter and area of foramen magnum in a population of costal Karnataka region using statistical considerations. Ninety adult dry skulls of known sex (50 male and 40 female) were included in the study. Morphometric analysis of foramen magnum was conducted using vernier calipers and the area of foramen magnum was calculated. The anteroposterior diameter, transverse diameter and area of foramen magnum are found to be significantly larger in males than females. Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) analysis was performed to derive models for estimation of sex from the different measurements of foramen magnum and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn for the predicted probabilities obtained from BLR analysis. The predictability of foramen magnum measurements in sexing of crania was 65.4% for transverse diameter and 86.5% for the anteroposterior diameter. For the area of foramen magnum that was calculated using the formula derived by Radinsky and Teixeria, the predicted probabilities were observed to be 81.6% and 82.2% respectively. When anteroposterior and transverse diameter were used together in BLR analysis the predictability of sex increased to 88%. However, considering the overlapping in the male and female values for the foramen magnum measurements it is suggested that its application in sex estimation should be restricted to cases where only a fragment of base of the skull is brought for examination. In such cases, the anteroposterior diameter and area of the foramen magnum can be employed as better tools for sexing the skulls than the transverse diameter of the foramen magnum.
在法医调查中，识别骨骼遗骸至关重要。当送检用于鉴定的仅有部分颅骨时，就凸显出需要从颅骨碎片估计性别的方法。本研究旨在利用统计学考量，对卡纳塔克邦沿海地区人群的枕骨大孔前后径、横径和面积的性别二态性进行研究。研究纳入了90个已知性别的成人干燥颅骨（50例男性和40例女性）。使用游标卡尺对枕骨大孔进行形态测量分析，并计算枕骨大孔的面积。发现男性的枕骨大孔前后径、横径和面积显著大于女性。进行二元逻辑回归（BLR）分析，以从枕骨大孔的不同测量值推导性别估计模型，并为BLR分析获得的预测概率绘制受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线。枕骨大孔测量值在颅骨性别鉴定中的预测能力，横径为65.4%，前后径为86.5%。对于使用拉迪斯基和特谢拉推导公式计算的枕骨大孔面积，预测概率分别为81.6%和82.2%。当在BLR分析中同时使用前后径和横径时，性别的预测能力提高到88%。然而，考虑到枕骨大孔测量值在男性和女性之间存在重叠，建议其在性别估计中的应用应限于仅送检颅骨底部碎片进行检查的情况。在这种情况下，与枕骨大孔横径相比，枕骨大孔前后径和面积可作为颅骨性别鉴定的更好工具。
