Height prediction from ulnar length in females: a study in Burdwan district of West Bengal (regression analysis)

Stature estimation from the skeletal remains bears immense importance in the forensic sciences. Along with the conventionally used long bones, the humerus, femur, tibia, etc.; the ulna also has been used for the said purpose since 1952. Though studies which had highlighted the stature estimation in Bengalee males were carried on earlier, in females, this has still not been uncovered.

An attempt was made to formulate a linear regression equation for the estimation of the stature of living adult Bengalee females from the lengths of their ulna.

This study was conducted in the Burdwan Medical College Hospital on 300 subjects who were chosen from among the patients and their lady attendants in the Gynaecology OPD. The height was measured from the crown to the heel and the length of the ulna was measured from the tip of the olecranon process to the tip of the styloid process. The documented data was calculated by the standard statistical software.

The parameters were tabulated and statistically analyzed. The correlation coefficient (r) was found to be 0.82 (p=0.002) for the left ulna with stature and it was 0.67 (p=0.001) for the right ulna with stature. Supportive regression equations and scatter-plot diagrams could successfully interpret the height from the ulnar length in females.

The ulna being almost a percutaneous bone, it can be used for the prediction of the height. The ulna length provides an accurate and reliable means in estimating the height of an individual. The regression formulae which were proposed in this study will be useful for clinicians, anatomists, archeologists, anthropologists and forensic scientists when such evidence provides the investigator the only opportunity to gauge that aspect of an individual's physical description.