An observational study to determine the sex of a femur

Abstract

Background: Bones are an important tool for establishing the biological profile of an individual. In the absence of skull and pelvis, long bones can play a major role in determining the sex. Femur is the longest and strongest bone of the body and resists environmental effects and hence becomes important in medico-legal investigations.Aim: To determine the sex of 180 femora and to set up baseline parameters for the North Indian population with the help of demarcating and limiting values.Materials and Methods :Seven parameters were studied in 180 femora to determine their sex. Mean and standard deviation were calculated. They were analysed using student ‘t’ test, Hotelling T2 square test for multivariate analysis and discriminant function analysis. Also, demarcating and limiting values were calculated for each parameter.Result: The difference between males and females for all parameters was highly significant. Males showed higher values as compared to females. By multivariate analysis also, p value was less than 0.001. We could correctly classify 90% bones using discriminant function analysis.Conclusion: Femur exhibits significant sexual dimorphism. Different populations require their own standards of sex determination. The accuracy of classification increases with increase in number of parameters.