Femoral head diameters in Nigerians

The transverse (TD) and vertical (VD) diameters of the head of the femur in 256 adult Nigerians in Ile-Ife were measured on the X-ray films of the hips of these subjects. There was no significant difference between the diameters of the left and right femoral heads (P greater than 0.05), but the diameters in the males were significantly larger than in the females (P less than 0.001). The VD and TD reported by Singh et al. [1] in Calabar men, and TD for women were significantly larger than those reported here in Ile-Ife (P less than 0.05), suggesting the existence of regional variation of the head of the femur in Nigerians. The VD and TD reported for Nigerians were larger than those reported for Caucasians, Indians, and Chinese, supporting racial and geographical variation of the head of the femur. Application of identification point differentiated the sex of most of the bones and might be useful in sex discrimination of the femur.