Osteometric sex determination from the hip joint in a thai population

Abstract

Objective: Sex determination from human remains is one of the important steps in the biological identification. The present study aimed to determine sex of hip joint in a Thai population. Design: A metric for the hip joint to estimate sex. Materials and Methods: The 200 skeletons including 100 males and 100 females adult pelvises and femurs were studied. The four parameters of hip joint consist of distance from the pubic tubercle to the anterior rim of the acetabulum (PT-A), acetabu-lum diameter (AD), depth of acetabulum (DA), and femoral head diameter (FHD). The ratio of distance from the pubic tubercle to the anterior rim of the acetabulum to the acetabulum diameter (PT-A/AD), the ratio of the depth of acetabulum to the acetab-ulum diameter (DA/AD), and the ratio of the femoral head diameter to the acetabulum diameter (FHD/AD) were calculated. Results: The FHD was the best indicator for sex determination in both sexes. In females, the highest values of both left and right sides were 38.13 and 37.92 mm, respectively. In males, the lowest value of both sides were 40.06 mm. Three equations for sex determination were obtained by discriminant analysis as follows: (I) Y = 0.439 (ADL)-22.651 for the left hip joint, (II) Y =-0.891(PT-AR) + 0.392 (ADR) + 50.275 (PT-A/ADR)-24.347 for the right hip joint, and (III) Y = 0.419 (ADR)-3.635 (PT-A/ADL)-18.297 for both sides of the hip joint. Conclusion: The percentages of accuracy in sex determination were 96.5, 99.0, and 98.5 in the equations of left, right, and both sides of the hip joint, respectively. Therefore, the current study can be used for sex determination in Thailand.