Determination of sex from the femur in Anatolian Caucasians: a digital radiological study

Abstract

Determination of the sex is one of the most important steps when evaluating decomposed bodies or skeletal remnants. However, relevant data exhibit significant ethnic and temporal variation. This study provides information on in vivo femoral dimensions of Anatolian Caucasians. 50 males and 54 females with ages between 18 and 68 years were investigated with computed tomography. For males, mean maximum length (ML) was 448.2mm, mean vertical head diameter (VHD) was 48.8mm, mean midshaft transverse diameter (MTD) was 26.5mm, and mean anterior bowing (AB) was 759.3mm. For females, these were 419.0mm, 43.4mm, 25.6mm, and 779.5mm, respectively. Femoral dimensions of Anatolian Caucasians were not entirely similar to a single racial group that was already reported. There was a significant difference between males and females regarding ML and VHD (p<0.0001 for both). MTD and AB did not exhibit sexual dysmorphism. Discriminant analysis for sex type produced 83.3% accuracy when ML was used, and 76.9% accuracy when VHD was used (p<0.0001). Combined use of both parameters increased overall accuracy to 84.6% (p<0.0001). For VHD, cut-off value of 44.9mm produced 94% sensitivity and 83% specificity. For ML, cut-off value of 428.6 produced 80% sensitivity and 67% specificity.