Height and Sex Estimation using Percutaneous Humeral length among Ghanaians

Abstract

Individual: It is sexually dimorphic and is a well-preserved bone postmortem.Height and sex are essential in establishing one's identity and can be estimated from long bones whenstanding height cannot be easily obtained. Previous studies report that sex and height are populationspecific.Hence, the present study sought to establish the relationship between percutaneous humeral lengths and height and formulate models for height and sex determination for the Ghanaian population. Materials and Methods:Measurement of standing height and percutaneous humeral lengths were taken from 286Ghanaian consented participants with no lower and upper extremities deformities. Results:There was a strong positivecorrelation between standing height and left(r = 0.774) and right (r=0.759) humeral lengths.The left humeral length regression equation was a good height estimator in males (56.6%) and females (50.0%). The left and right humeral lengths best-predictedsex for the male population with an accuracy of 78.0% and 77.8%, respectively, attributable to the larger sample size of the males than the females. Conclusion: There was asignificantly strong positive correlation between the humeral length and height in males and females. The left humerus was a better predictor of heightthan the righthumeral length best-predicted sex for the male population.