Mastoid triangle for sex determination in adult Nigerian population: a validation study

In the quest for a simple, reliable technique to estimate the sex of human remains several novel metric skeletal indices have been reported. Only a few have been examined for utility in populations different from those in which they were developed. In this study, the mastoid process was evaluated for sex determination using 102 lateral cephalograms of a Nigerian sample of known age and sex. The asterion-mastoidale distance and mastoid triangular area were sexually dimorphic with mean values higher in males compared with females (p = 0.02). On analysis of the discriminant function, overall accuracy for sex classification was 55%. On cross-validation, the triangular area accurately identified 80% of females and 48% of males. The asterion-mastoidale distance was slightly more accurate at sexing the sample. The practical utility of the mastoid triangle area technique to differentiate sex in Nigerian populations is not supported by the results of this study.