Prediction of the femoral length from markers on its proximal and distal ends

[摘要] An estimation of stature from the whole length of limb bones is well documented. However,skeletal remains available for forensic work are often fragmentary. This study presents aprediction of the femoral length using markers on its proximal and distal ends. A total of 400South African White and Black adult dried femora, devoid of gross pathology, and groupedby sex were obtained from the Raymond Dart Collection of Human Skeletons in theDepartment of Anatomical Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. TheMaximum Femoral Length (FL), Neck-Shaft Angle (NSA), Neck Length (NL), MaximumVertical Diameter of the Head of Femur (VDH), Intertrochanteric Apical Axis Length (ITAAL),Upper Breadth of the Femur (VHA), and Lateral Condyle Height (LCH) were measured. Thedata were statistically analysed using the various components of a PC version of SAS software program. The student's t-test was used to calculate the significant differences ofmeans between the sexes and races within the study sample as well as with other studies.The critical value for statistical significance was placed at the 0.05 level.Correlation coefficients between femoral length and the other variables were calculated. Thelength of femur significantly and positively correlated with all segment measurements in bothraces and sexes. Femoral length was regressed on segment measurements individually andin combination and simple as well as multiple linear regression equations were developed forWhite and Black South Africans. Stepwise selection procedure was employed to formulatethe multilinear regression equations. Most of the models developed in the present study aresignificant at p< 0.0001, r² values are high, and standard errors of the estimates (S. E.E.) arevery low. Therefore, the equations developed in this study present a reasonable degree ofaccuracy for the estimation of femoral length from its proximal and distal segments in SouthAfrican Whites and Blacks.Once the length of femur is established, it is possible to calculate living stature of theindividual with a reasonable degree of precision. The necessity of population and sexspecific regression models is addressed.

[发布机构] University of the Free State