Sexual dimorphism in ulna: an osteometric study from India

Determination of sex constitutes the most important element during the identification process of human skeletal remains. Several sex-specific features of human skeleton have been exploited for sex determination with varying reliability. This study aims to obtain sexual dimorphic standards for ulnae of the north Indian population. Eight measurements were obtained on a sample of 106 ulnae (males--80, females--26) in the age range of 25-65 years. The sexual dimorphism index and demarking points were calculated for all the variables. The data were then subjected to stepwise and direct discriminant function analysis. The best discriminator of sex was the maximum length (84.9%) followed by radial notch width (84%). In stepwise analysis, these two variables were selected and provided an accuracy of 88.7% (M-87.5%, F-92.3%). The proximal end provided a classification rate of 81.1% (M-80%, F-84.6%) with selection of the notch length and olecranon width.