Sex estimation in a modern Turkish population using the clavicle: a computed tomography study

ABSTRACT

Morphometric analysis of the clavicle is a potential source of useful data for the estimation of sex. Clavicle is often retrieved intact from decomposed and scavenged remains when pelvis and skull, essential sex indicators, are often found damaged or missing. The objective of this study is to analyse clavicle morphometric data for sex estimation in a Turkish population. Computed tomography (CT) scans of the thorax of two hundred Turkish adult patients (71 male and 81 female patients with an age range of 22–80 years) were included. Furthermore, morphometric data for the left clavicle using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) clavicle CT images were obtained, and six variables were measured in the clavicle images. Univariate and multivariate discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to create population-specific functions for sex estimation. The classification accuracy for the cross-validated data ranged from 75% to 89% in the uni- and multivariate DFA. Stepwise discrimination analysis yielded an 89% accuracy rate for the maximum length and midshaft circumference variables. The study showed that the clavicle can provide useful data for estimating sex in a modern Turkish population and that when there is difficulty accessing bone collections, CT scans can provide useful data for sex estimation.

KEYWORDS:

• Forensic anthropology
• computed tomography
• clavicle
• sex estimation
• Turkey

Acknowledgments

The English in this document has been checked by native speakers of English with American Journal Experts.

Author contributions

MB: Data collection, Data analysis, Manuscript writing/editing. AE: Data analysis, manuscript editing. EK: Data analysis, Manuscript writing/editing CDB: Manuscript editing. EK: Manuscript editing. NM: Manuscript writing/editing OE: Protocol development, data analysis, manuscript writing/editing, SG: Manuscript writing/editing

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study protocol was approved by the İzmir Tepecik Training and Research Hospital Clinical Research Ethics Committee.

Informed consent

For this type of study, formal consent was not required.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any authors.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this study.