Height estimation from head dimensions in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Height estimation is an important stage of forensic investigation to identify an unknown person. The problem of unidentified human remains in the study area, due to local militia activities, kidnapping, and murder, necessitated this study to assess the correlation between the body height and head dimensions and to formulate regression models for estimation of height that are population and gender-specific. Materials and methods: The study involved 952 subjects (464 males and 488 females), aged 18-30 years, from five ethnic groups and sampled from six universities in South-South Nigeria. Stature, head circumference, head length, and head width were measured using a standard anthropometric method. The data collected were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20. Statistical significance was pegged at p < 0.05. Results: There was a significantly greater head dimension in males compared to females. There was a significant relationship between height and head dimensions in the majority of data. The relationship of the head circumference with stature was strongest in male data among the Bekwara and combined data among the Esan and Urhobo. Regarding the head length, the strongest relationship was in females and combined data among Bekwara, and males and combined data among the Ogbia had the strongest relationship. The relationship of stature with the head width was strongest in males and combined data among the Bekwara, and female data among the Ogbia. Conclusion: This study showed that head dimensions can be used as tools in the height reconstruction of an individual using simple and multiple regression models, and this has medico-legal implication.

Validation of Gender Identification From Frontal Sinuses Using Yoshino's Classification: A Morphometric Radiographic Study

“…Studies by Patil et al [6], Hamed et al [19], Selarka et al [20], and Eboh et al [21] reported slightly higher mean ages compared to the present study. Cossellu et al [22], Soman et al [23], and Shireen et al [1] had a lower age limit lower than the present study.…”

Determination of Sex of an Individual by Frontal Sinus Using Multidetector Computed Tomography Scan: A Retrospective Forensic Study

“…9 Eboh et al carried out a study on the Nigerian population and reported that the left frontal sinus width and height were statistically significant. 14 In the present study also, the left frontal sinus height was statistically significantly difference (p < 0.05) between males and females, while there was no significant difference in the other variables (p > 0.05).…”

“…8 Similarly, Eboh et al 14 performed a study based on sex determination of frontal sinus on which a cutoff value of 0.5 was established, which meant that when it was !0.5, the individuals were classified as males and if it was less than 0.5 it was female. 14 According to the present study, an ROC curve analysis was used and the area under the curve of our model was 0.733. The optimum cutoff value for predicted probability was 0.489 (►Table 4).…”

Sex Determination Using Frontal Sinus Diameters on Direct Radiography

“…Our results showed that sex determination using FS diameters was successful for 68.2% of the males and 71.2% of the females, while the accuracy rate for both sexes was 69.7%. The literature contains studies using different imaging techniques for sex determination based on FS [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. In a study conducted in India with computed tomography (CT), it was reported that sex determination had an accuracy rate of 61.4% [21], and in a direct radiography study, the accuracy of sex determination was determined as 59% [22].…”