Sex determination from calcaneus in Korean using discriminant analysis

Area of Science:

• Forensic Anthropology
• Human Osteology
• Biometrics

Background:

• The calcaneus (heel bone) is valuable for sex determination using discriminant functions.
• Previous studies have established equations for various populations, but not for modern Koreans.
• Population-specific equations are essential for accurate forensic analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop population-specific discriminant function equations for sex determination from the calcaneus in modern Koreans.
• To validate the necessity of using Korean-specific equations for forensic anthropology.

Main Methods:

• Measurement of 10 variables on 104 calcanei from modern Korean cadavers.
• Statistical analysis to identify significant sexual dimorphism and develop discriminant functions.
• Evaluation of classification accuracy using various combinations of variables.

Main Results:

• All 10 measured variables showed statistically significant sexual differences (P<0.05) with large effect sizes (Cohen's d>0.9).
• The highest accuracy (89.4%) was achieved using all variables with the direct method.
• Length-based measurements, specifically MINB (body of calcaneus) and MAXL (maximum calcaneal length), provided high accuracy (84.6%).

Conclusions:

• Developed discriminant function equations for sex determination from the Korean calcaneus.
• Demonstrated significant sexual dimorphism in calcaneal morphology within the Korean population.
• Highlighted the critical need for population-specific equations, as non-Korean equations led to misclassification of Korean females.