Estimation of Sex From Index and Ring Finger Lengths in An Indigenous Population of Eastern India
Introduction: Forensic anthropology involves the identification of human remains for medico-legal purposes. Estimation of sex is an essential element of medico-legal investigations when identification of unknown dismembered remains is involved. Aim: The present study was conducted with an aim to...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2015-11-01
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Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/6846/14940_CE[Ra1]_F(AK)_PF1(EKAK)_PFA(P)_PF2(PAG).pdf |
Summary: | Introduction: Forensic anthropology involves the identification
of human remains for medico-legal purposes. Estimation of sex
is an essential element of medico-legal investigations when
identification of unknown dismembered remains is involved.
Aim: The present study was conducted with an aim to estimate
sex from index and ring finger lengths of adult individuals
belonging to an indigenous population of eastern India.
Materials and Methods: A total of 500 unrelated adult
individuals (18-60 years) from the Rajbanshi population (males:
250, females: 250) took part in the study. A total of 400 (males:
200, 200 female) participants were randomly used to develop
sex estimation models using Binary Logistic Regression Analysis
(BLR). A separate group of 200 adults (18-60 years) from the
Karbi tribal population (males 100, females 100) were included
to validate the results obtained on the Rajbanshi population.
The univarate and bivariate models derived on the study
group (n=400) were tested on hold-out sample of Rajbanshi
participants (n=100) and the other test population of the Karbi
(n=200) participants.
Results: The results indicate that Index Finger Length (IFL) and
Ring Finger Length (RFL) of both hands were significantly longer
in males as compared to females. The ring finger was longer than
the index finger in both sexes. The study successfully highlights
the existence of sex differences in IFL and RFL (p<0.05). No sex
differences were however, observed for the index and ring finger
ratio. The predictive accuracy of IFL and RFL in sex estimation
ranged between 70%-75% (in the hold out sample from the
Rajbanshi population) and 60-66% (in the test sample from the
Karbi population). A Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis
was performed to test the predictive accuracy after predicting
the probability of IFL and RFL in sex estimation. The predicted
probabilities using ROC analysis were observed to be higher on
the left side and in multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: The study concludes that sex estimation from index
and ring finger lengths could be of utility when more reliable
means of sex estimation are not available during medico-legal
investigations. |
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ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |