Estimation of Stature from Coccygeal Measurements in North-West Indians

Abstract

Stature estimation is quintessential to identification in field of forensic medicine and chiefly involves use of long bone measurements.  However, difficulties arise in cases of extremely mutilated bodies where it's hard to find intact long bones. The aim of the study is to  estimate the stature of deceased from coccygeal measurements and to formulate multiple regression equation for practical usage in  forensic casework. Atotal of 200 medico-legal autopsy cases (157 males, 43 females) representative of northwest Indian population were  studied. The straight length of coccyx (CxL) and the widths of first three coccygeal vertebrae (Cx1, Cx2, Cx3) were measured using digital  vernier callipers. For standardization of regression equation, 155 cases (125 males, 30 females) having only three coccygeal vertebrae  were considered further. The comparison of metric measurements was done using t-test. Karl Pearson's correlation of stature with metric  parameters and multiple regression analysis was performed. The number of coccygeal vertebrae varied from 3 to 5 with only 37 cases (18.5%) and 8 cases (4%) having fourth and fifth vertebrae,  respectively. The mean straight length of coccyx was significantly (p=.009) higher in males (2.95 cm ± 0.54) than females (2.67 cm ±  0.43). Highly significant Karl Pearson's correlation (p=.0001) was observed for stature with straight length of coccyx and width of second  vertebra. Multiple regression equations were found to be reliable and accurate in stature estimation. The authors recommend the use of  coccygeal measurements in forensic casework for stature estimation, especially in cases where intact long bones are not available.