Correlation and estimation of stature from cephalofacial measurements: A study on Western Uttar Pradesh population

Identification of an individual from fragmented remains is still a very challenging task for forensic experts in spite of the many studies which have been carried out till date, across the globe. Stature, one of the criteria of personal identification, has a definite and proportional biological relationship with every part of the human body which includes the cephalofacial (CF) region. At instances, where only CF remains are available, it becomes difficult for the forensic scientist to identify the deceased since there is a paucity of studies pertaining to the estimation of stature from CF dimensions. Results from such a study can be used as database for forensic investigations and other anthropometric studies.

To estimate stature of an individual using data derived from CF measurements.

The study was conducted on 540 representative candidates (270 males and 270 females) in the age group of 20-25 years. Stature (S) and CF measurements (maximum head length [MHL], maximum head breadth [MHB], horizontal circumference of head [HHC], bigonial diameter [BGD], and morphological facial length [MFL]) of each candidate were recorded and tabulated. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics v. 19.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) for the CF dimensions obtained. Comparisons were made between the CF measurements recorded with respect to the gender using statistical mean, standard deviation, range, and Pearson's correlation coefficient, and linear regression equation of height to the parameters recorded was derived.

Findings suggest that all the CF measurements are significantly correlated with stature (P < 0.01). MHL, MHB, and HHC show higher correlation coefficients (r value) when compared to MFL and BGD. The CF measurements arranged in descending order based on their r value is HHC > MHL > MHB > MFL > BGD. In general, head measurements show lower values of standard error of estimate (SEE) compared to facial measurements. Among both sexes, HHC shows the least and BGD shows the highest SEE value when compared to all the other CF measurements.

It can be concluded that the recommended anthropometric measurements provided serve as a template and confirm that there are geographical and sexual dimorphism in anthropometric parameters; therefore, these should be considered in forensic or criminal investigations.