European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

SEX AND STATURE PREDICTION AMONG ADULT LAGOS DWELLERS USING FOOT ANTHROPOMETRY

Nwachukwu Mike Ibeabuchi, Ikpa James Onah*, Salawu Ahmed Akinjide, Obi-Ojinika Chukubueze, Aderibigbe Mojirade Kudirat

ABSTRACT

The need for identification may arise in cases of homicide, suicide, bomb blasts, terrorist’s attacks, wars, air plane crashes, road and train accidents, as well as natural mass disasters like tsunami, floods, and earth quakes. The main aim of the examiner or forensic anthropologist will be to identify the deceased with respect to sex, stature, race/ethnicity and age. The aim of this work was to measure the anthropometric parameters of foot of adult males and females and generate equation models for estimating gender and stature. The study comprised 222 subjects (115 males and 107 females) of Nigerian parentage, aged 18–65 years who volunteered and satisfied the inclusion criteria. Following institutional approval, anthropometric measurements of Stature, Foot Length (FL), Foot width (FW), Bimalleolar breadth (BB), Navicular height (NH), Medial malleolar height (MMH), Lateral malleolar height (LMH), Heel Breadth (HB) were measured. The data was analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics using the SPSS statistical package version 25 and Microsoft excel 2016. The results of the present study recorded Mean stature values of 176.44 ± 6.47 cm, 164.71 ± 6.70 cm, and 169.80 ± 8.79 cm for the males, females, and the pooled sample respectively. Independent t test exhibited statistically significant gender differences (P < 0.05) for all the parameters, with the males having consistently higher values than the females. Paired t test revealed the existence bilateral asymmetry on bi-malleolar breadth navicular height and medial malleolar height (P < 0.05). Significant positive correlation coefficients of stature with the foot length and breadth dimensions were found to range from 0.307to 0.485 in the study. Single and multiple logistic regression models were created for predicting gender, single and multiple linear regression models were also created for stature determination This study has demonstrated that stature can be predicted from foot dimensions, with left foot width showing more accuracy and reliability than the other foot dimensions. The prediction models established from this study will be very useful in disaster victim identification from mutilated or dismembered human remains to aid medico-legal practice in Nigeria.

Keywords: Stature, Sex, Foot dimensions, Anthropometry, Forensic anthropology, Adult Lagos dwellers, Regression models.