Indra Lara, Vach Werner, Desideri Jocelyne, Besse Marie, Pichler Sandra L
Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Sulgenauweg 40, 3007 Bern, Switzerland.
Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Spalenring 145, 4055 Basel, Switzerland.
Sci Justice. 2021 Sep;61(5):555-563. doi: 10.1016/j.scijus.2021.06.011. Epub 2021 Jul 2.
Sex estimation is essential for forensic scientists to identify human skeletal remains. However, the most sexually dimorphic elements like pelvis or skull are not always assessable. Osteometric analyses have proven useful in sex estimation, but also to be population specific. The main purpose of this study was to test the validity of contemporary Greek and Spanish discriminant functions for the talus and the patella, respectively, on a Swiss skeletal sample and to quantify the utility of the measurements as a novel approach in osteometric sex assessment. Four talus and three patella measurements on dry bone were obtained from 234 individuals of the modern cemetery SIMON Identified Skeletal Collection. The previously derived discriminant functions were applied, accuracies determined, the utility of the different measurements was assessed and new multivariable equations constructed. Accuracies varied between 67% and 86% for talus and 63% and 84% for patella, similar to those reported by the original studies. Multivariable equations should be preferred over equations based on single measurements and combining the most significant measurements rather than using several variables obtained the best possible accuracy. The new discriminant functions did not provide a substantial improvement to the original ones. The overall utility of talus and patella is limited, allowing sex estimation with sufficient certainty only in a small proportion of individuals. Discriminant functions developed in contemporary Greek or Spanish populations are in principle applicable also to Swiss contemporary populations. We recommend that at present existent studies of this type should be validated and tested rather than developing new formulas.
性别鉴定对于法医科学家识别人类骨骼遗骸至关重要。然而，诸如骨盆或头骨等最具性别差异的部位并非总是可评估的。骨测量分析已被证明在性别鉴定中有用，但也具有人群特异性。本研究的主要目的是分别在瑞士骨骼样本上测试当代希腊和西班牙针对距骨和髌骨的判别函数的有效性，并量化这些测量值作为骨测量性别评估新方法的效用。从现代墓地SIMON已识别骨骼收藏的234名个体的干燥骨骼上获取了四项距骨测量值和三项髌骨测量值。应用先前推导的判别函数，确定准确率，评估不同测量值的效用，并构建新的多变量方程。距骨的准确率在67%至86%之间，髌骨的准确率在63%至84%之间，与原始研究报告的结果相似。与基于单一测量的方程相比，应优先选择多变量方程，并且组合最显著的测量值而非使用多个变量可获得最佳准确率。新的判别函数并未比原始函数有实质性改进。距骨和髌骨的整体效用有限，仅在一小部分个体中能够以足够的确定性进行性别鉴定。在当代希腊或西班牙人群中开发的判别函数原则上也适用于瑞士当代人群。我们建议目前此类现有研究应进行验证和测试，而非开发新的公式。
