Radiometry versus osteometry in sex assessment: a study of the Cretan radius

Abstract

Sex estimation is vital for biological profiling, thus qualitative and quantitative methods have been developed for every skeletal part in humans. However, somehow the radius has been neglected. This study aims to develop a sex estimation method on radiographs of the radius applicable in situations when classical osteometry cannot be applied. A total of 103 left radii were used in this study. Three classical measurements (maximum length, head diameter and distal breadth) were taken on the dry bones. Digital radiographs of the same radii were taken using a portable X-ray machine (Technix TCA 4R PLUS). Eight landmarks are selected on the radiograph of the proximal and six on the radiograph of the distal radius, generating in total 43 linear distances. ANOVA detected three osteometric and 24 radiometric variables that differed significantly between males and females (p<0.05). Classical osteometry resulted in up to 91% classification accuracy while the best multivariate formula of the radiometric method gave 88% correct classification. The study proposes a rapid and inexpensive alternative method for sex screening based on digital radiographs of the radius, a method that could be particularly advantageous in cases of mass disasters with numerous mutilated and/or burnt bodies where maceration is not an option.

Keywords:

• Forensic anthropology;
• sex estimation;
• digital radiography;
• radius;
• discriminant function analysis

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor and mentor Professor Manolis Michalodimitrakis, former Director of the Department of Forensic Sciences of the University of Crete, Greece, for the opportunity he has given me to learn by his side and undertake this research. Special thanks to Mr Stratos Kougios and Dr Antonis Papadomanolakis for their support in the assemblage and the curation of the Cretan collection from which this material derives. Special thanks to Caroline Lill for the English review.