Determination of sex using various parameters of hip bone

Abstract

Introduction: Identification of deceased person, is the most common and critical problem faced by anatomists, anthropologists and forensic experts. As bony skeleton retains its morphological structure even after decomposition or putrefaction, experts use skeletal remains for identifying deceased humans. Identification of sex from skeleton is vital to medico-legal investigation. Aims and Objectives: Determine the method of sex identification from hip bone and find its most dependable parameter. Materials and Methods: 160 adult hip bones (80 M and 80 F) were obtained randomly from skeletal banks of Department of Anatomy of recognized medical Colleges. Callibration was taken with the help of vernier calliper. All linear Calibration was taken in centimetres on the intact parts of normal bones: For every parameter, the mean and standard deviation (S.D) were calculated and the range was noted. Demarking points taken from calculated ranges, i.e mean ± 3 S.D. Results: Greater sciatic notch width is the most accurate method by which sex could be accurately determined in 23% right male, 21% of right female, 24% left male and 27% left female hip bone. Whereas among newer method studied, true pelvic height was found to be most accurate method by which sex could be determined in 18% of right male, 16% of right female, 14% of left male& 12% of left female hip bones. Conclusion: The good combinations of parameters among older and newer one are greater sciatic notch width and true pelvic height by which reasonable number of hip bones could be sexed accurately.