Forensic anthropological discriminants for sexual dimorphism using Sacral bones from a Nigerian population

Abstract

The bony pelvis (sacrum and hip bones) is employed for forensic anthropological determination of gender. This study evaluated parameters and indices with higher precision and accuracy for sexual dimorphism in a Nigerian population using dry human sacral bones. Forty-four dry human sacral bones (22 males and 22 females) were obtained from the Anatomy museum of University of Ilorin, Nigeria. All bones with obvious pathology were excluded. Vernier caliper and flexible tape were used for linear and curved surface measurements respectively. Data were analyzed using the 2016 Microsoft Excel Software and Student’s t-test (p≤0.05) for comparison between male and female and pairwise comparison between right and left of paired parameters. Out of 17 parameters of human sacral bones evaluated for gender determination, six parameters were found to be statistically significant viz: Sacral Index (SI) (p<0.0001), Ventral Straight Length of Sacrum (VSLS) (p = 0.0004), Curved Length of Sacrum (CLS) (p = 0.005), Right Length of Alae (RLA) (p = 0.01), Left Length of Alae (LLA) (p = 0.03) and Curvature Index (CI) (p = 0.04). Hence, SI, VSLS, CLS, RLA, LLA and CI were considered vital in gender differentiation, and their combination is expected to increase the percentage accuracy.