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Estimation of stature from vertebral column length in South Indians
Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272 www.elsevier.com/locate/legalmed
Estimation of stature from vertebral column length in South Indians K.R. Nagesh a
a,*
, G. Pradeep Kumar
q
b
Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Light House Hill Road, Mangalore 575001, Karnataka, India b Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal 576104, Udupi, Karnataka, India Received 11 May 2006; received in revised form 24 May 2006; accepted 31 May 2006 Available online 11 September 2006
Abstract Stature is one of the essential parameters in the establishment of identity of an individual. To estimate the stature from different segments of the vertebral column, a study was done in the South Indian population. The lengths of different segments of the vertebral column were measured along the anterior surface in 72 males and 45 females. Regression formulae were deduced for each segment in both the groups. The correlation coefficient of the estimate ranged from 0.776 to 0.583 in males and 0.708 to 0.325 in females. The standard error of the estimate ranged from 4.38 to 5.65 cm in males and 4.16 to 5.58 cm in females. This method is useful to estimate the stature in cases of highly decomposed, burnt or mutilated bodies, where the long bones are not available. 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Forensic anthropology; Identification; Stature; Height; Spine; Vertebral column
1. Introduction Any criminal investigation requires the identification of an individual or dead body, which helps in connecting the criminal to the crime. The routine methods of identification have a limited role in cases of advanced decomposition. In such cases, skeletal examination may help in identification, since bones resists decomposition for a long time. The determination of race, sex, age, and stature of the bone gives valuable information in establishing the identity of a person. Different body parts have been used in the estimation of stature. The long bones of the limb conventionally served the purpose so far [1–3]. In places like India, animals and vultures can mutilate the dead body in a short period when placed in an open field in the outskirts of a village or town. In such cases, the peripheral parts of the body including bones may not be available for measurement. This is also true in cases of extensive burning of the body. Here, parts q
No source of support in the form of grants. * Corresponding author. Tel.: + 91 824 2422271x5565; fax: + 91 824 2428183. E-mail address: drnag2002@rediffmail.com (K.R. Nagesh).
of the body or bones that tend to remain intact long after death such as the vertebral column will be useful for measurement. Numerous studies have been published for the estimation of stature from the vertebral column in different races viz., Fully and Pineau [4] in American Whites, Tibbetts [5], Jason and Taylor [6] in American Whites and Blacks and Terazawa et al. [7] in Japanese population. The present study was undertaken for the reason that no significant work has been documented among the South Indian population for the determination of stature using the vertebral column length. 2. Material and methods The study comprised of medico legal cases autopsied in Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore from July 2001 to July 2004. It consisted of 72 male and 45 female cases of South Indian origin aged between 20 and 50 years. Family members, police and hospital records provided information on age of the individuals. The bodies that were decomposed, extensively burnt and with vertebral anomalies excluded from the study.
1344-6223/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.legalmed.2006.05.007
270
K.R. Nagesh, G. Pradeep Kumar / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272
The body placed in supine position on a flat surface with knee and hip joints extended, and the neck in neutral position. A flexible steel measuring tape was used for the measurement. The crown-heel length of the body measured between the vertex of head and the heel. After complete evisceration of the organs of neck, thorax, and abdomen, the anterior surface of the vertebral column was exposed. The total vertebral column length measured along the curvature of vertebral column, from the top of odontoid process of C2 vertebra to the point between L5 and S1, as recommended by Jason and Taylor [6]. The sacral length was not included in the study. Then the lengths of cervical, thoracic and lumbar segments of vertebral column measured separately. The segmental borders were defined at the mid portion of the intervertebral discs as follows: • Cervical segment: From the top of odontoid process of C2 vertebra to the point between C7 and T1. • Thoracic segment: From the point between C7 and T1 to the point between T12 and L1. • Lumbar segment: From the point between T12 and L1 to the point between L5 and S1. All the measurements recorded by the first author to minimize the error in measurement. The data were analysed by using the SPSS version 10. For assessing the correlation between the stature and lengths of various segments of the vertebral column, the Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated and its significance was tested by Students t test. P value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant.
Table 2 Mean values of the length of vertebral column segments Segment length (cm)
Male
Female
Total vertebrae Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Cervico-thoracic Thoraco-lumbar
56.04±2.80 12.14±1.10 26.44±1.47 17.39±0.93 38.58±2.22 43.83±2.11
51.66±2.19 10.80±0.99 24.62±1.02 16.27±1.11 35.42±1.55 40.89±1.79
Table 3 Linear regression equations for stature estimation from vertebral column length in males Segment
Equation
SE (cm)
R
Total vertebral Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Cervico-thoracic Thoraco-lumbar
a = 1.882b + 60.699 a = 3.661b + 121.563 a = 3.037b + 85.715 a = 4.901b + 80.783 a = 2.224b + 80.228 a = 2.419b + 59.989
4.38 5.65 5.29 5.23 4.80 4.66
0.776 0.583 0.649 0.659 0.723 0.741
a, Stature (cm); b, segment length (cm); SE, standard error of estimate (cm); R, correlation coefficient.
error of the estimate in male and female population, respectively. In both sexes, highest correlation coefficient was found in the total vertebral column length with value of 0.776 in males and 0.708 in females. The least correlation coefficient was found for cervical segment in both sexes with value of 0.583 in males and 0.325 in females. The results derived from the present study were statistically significant (P = 0.001). Figs. 1 and 2 present graphs of total vertebral length versus stature with 95% confidence limits in female and male population, respectively.
3. Results 4. Discussion Mean age of the male study sample was 33.44±8.67 years and of the female sample was 27.47±7.06 years. The age distribution of study sample showed in Table 1. The majority of the study sample belonged to 20–30 years age group viz., 48.6% males and 75.6% females. The mean stature of the study sample was 166.01±6.90 cm in males and 153.51±5.83 cm in females. The mean lengths of vertebral column segments measured individually and with combination showed in Table 2. Tables 3 and 4 shows the linear regression equations for the estimation of stature from the various segments of vertebral column with correlation coefficient and standard Table 1 Age distribution of study sample Age (years)
Male Number (%)
Female Number (%)
20–30 31–40 41–50 Total
35 20 17 72
34 07 04 45
(48.6%) (27.8%) (23.6%) (100%)
(75.6%) (15.6%) (8.8%) (100%)
It is a well-known fact that stature varies in different races. In the present study, the mean stature of male sample is 166.01±6.90 cm and of female is 153.51±5.83 cm, which is comparable to Japanese samples done by Terazawa [7]. The stature of Black and White people included in Jason [6] and Tibbetts [5] study is much higher indicating the drastic racial difference. Table 4 Linear regression equations for stature estimation from vertebral column length in females Segment
Equation
SE (cm)
R
Total vertebral Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Cervico-thoracic Thoraco-lumbar
a = 1.899b + 55.361 a = 1.902b + 132.980 a = 2.960b + 80.640 a = 3.292b + 99.949 a = 2.061b + 80.537 a = 2.208b + 63.222
4.16 5.58 5.05 4.61 4.93 4.33
0.708 0.325 0.517 0.624 0.548 0.679
a, Stature (cm); b, segment length (cm); SE, standard error of estimate (cm); R, correlation coefficient.
K.R. Nagesh, G. Pradeep Kumar / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272
271
Table 5 Comparison of correlation coefficient (r) and standard errors (SE) of different studies Population 1. American Whites Male Female American Blacks Male Female 2. American Blacks Male Female 3. Japanese Male Female
R
SE (cm)
Reference
0.768–0.598 0.720–0.468
5.29–6.66 5.32–7.11
[6]
0.809–0.623 0.823–0.353
5.09–6.74 2.60–5.41
0.62–0.24 0.64–0.18
5.47–6.79 5.31–6.83
[5]
0.532 0.440
6.16 4.05
[7]
R, correlation coefficient; SE, standard error of estimate (cm). Fig. 1. Length of total vertebral length versus stature of female population, with regression line and 95% confidence limits.
The correlation coefficients in our study ranged from 0.776 to 0.583 in males and 0.708 to 0.325 in females. The standard error of estimate ranged from 4.38 to 5.65 cm in males and 4.16 to 5.58 cm in females. Table 5 shows the comparison of correlation coefficient and standard errors of studies conducted in different races. The present study showed highest correlation coefficient for the total length of the vertebral column in both sexes. This is in concurrence with results found in Tibbetts’ [5] female population and Jason’s [6] study population (except the Black females). Tibbetts [5] measured midline height of the dried vertebral bodies individually and later segmental groups made by adding these individual heights. In males, he found highest correlation coefficient (0.62) in several vertebral groups including lower thoracic and lumbar vertebrae with least standard error in the T12 to L4 vertebral group (5.47 cm). However, in females, highest correlation coefficient (0.64)
found in vertebral groups including almost all vertebrae with least standard error in C2 to L4 vertebral group (5.31 cm). In addition, Tibbetts [5] found in his female study population that the correlation coefficients continued to improve as the number of vertebrae in the bone-groups increased. Similar results observed in the present and Jason’s [6] studies, where the combination of segments especially the thoraco-lumbar segment showed better correlation coefficients than individual groups. This shows that, the longer the segment length, the more accurate is the result. In the present study, the lumbar segment showed highest and the cervical segment showed least correlation coefficient. The high correlation of lumbar segment is in concurrence with Terazawa [7] and Tibbetts’ [5] male population and different to Jason’s [6] study, where it occupies the least position. The low correlation of cervical segment is in concurrence with Jason’s [6] female population. SjBvold [8] mentioned that stature decreases approximately 6 mm per decade after the age of 30 years owing to decreased elasticity of the intervertebral discs and cartilage. Accordingly, age correction has been done in our study, which showed slightly improved correlation coefficients (at 0.01 levels) in male samples and slightly decreased correlation coefficients (at 0.01 levels) in female samples. However, there is no significant change in the formulae with age correction, which is in concurrence with the Jason’s [6] study. 5. Conclusion
Fig. 2. Length of total vertebral length versus stature of male population, with regression line and 95% confidence limits.
The present study concludes that the vertebral column can be a useful tool in the estimation of stature. In burnt, decomposed and mutilated bodies where the limbs are not available, the application of these equations will help in determining the stature of an individual, since the vertebral column is least damaged in such cases. The total vertebral column length gives the more accurate results. If the entire vertebral column is not available, combination of segments such as thoraco-lumbar and cervico-thoracic segments are more useful than the individual
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K.R. Nagesh, G. Pradeep Kumar / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272
segments. In individual segments, the lumbar segment gives better results than other segments. Acknowledgements I am thankful to Dr K.W.D. Ravichander, Professor and Formerly Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore for his help in compiling the materials for this study. References [1] Trotter M, Gleser G. Estimation of stature from long bones of American Whites and Negroes. Am J Phys Anthropol 1952;10:463–514.
[2] Trotter M, Gleser G. A re-evaluation of estimation of stature based on measurements of stature taken during life and of long bones after death. Am J Phys Anthropol 1958;16:79–123. [3] Jantz RL. Modification of Trotter and Gleser female stature estimation formulae. J Forensic Sci 1992;37:1230–5. [4] Krogman WM, Iscan MY. Calculation of stature. The Human skeleton in forensic medicine. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publishers; 1986, p. 302–351. [5] Tibbetts GL. Estimation of stature from the vertebral column in American Blacks. J Forensic Sci 1981;26:715–23. [6] Jason DR, Taylor K. Estimation of stature from the length of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar segments of the spine in American whites and blacks. J Forensic Sci 1995;40:59–62. [7] Terazawa K, Akabane H, Gotouda H, Mizukami K, Nagao M, Takatori T. Estimating stature from the length of the lumbar part of the spine in Japanese. Med Sci Law 1990;30:354–7. [8] SjBvold T. Stature estimation from the skeleton. In: Siegel JA, editor. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2000. p. 277.
Estimation of stature from vertebral column length in South Indians K.R. Nagesh a
a,*
, G. Pradeep Kumar
q
b
Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Light House Hill Road, Mangalore 575001, Karnataka, India b Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal 576104, Udupi, Karnataka, India Received 11 May 2006; received in revised form 24 May 2006; accepted 31 May 2006 Available online 11 September 2006
Abstract Stature is one of the essential parameters in the establishment of identity of an individual. To estimate the stature from different segments of the vertebral column, a study was done in the South Indian population. The lengths of different segments of the vertebral column were measured along the anterior surface in 72 males and 45 females. Regression formulae were deduced for each segment in both the groups. The correlation coefficient of the estimate ranged from 0.776 to 0.583 in males and 0.708 to 0.325 in females. The standard error of the estimate ranged from 4.38 to 5.65 cm in males and 4.16 to 5.58 cm in females. This method is useful to estimate the stature in cases of highly decomposed, burnt or mutilated bodies, where the long bones are not available. 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Forensic anthropology; Identification; Stature; Height; Spine; Vertebral column
1. Introduction Any criminal investigation requires the identification of an individual or dead body, which helps in connecting the criminal to the crime. The routine methods of identification have a limited role in cases of advanced decomposition. In such cases, skeletal examination may help in identification, since bones resists decomposition for a long time. The determination of race, sex, age, and stature of the bone gives valuable information in establishing the identity of a person. Different body parts have been used in the estimation of stature. The long bones of the limb conventionally served the purpose so far [1–3]. In places like India, animals and vultures can mutilate the dead body in a short period when placed in an open field in the outskirts of a village or town. In such cases, the peripheral parts of the body including bones may not be available for measurement. This is also true in cases of extensive burning of the body. Here, parts q
No source of support in the form of grants. * Corresponding author. Tel.: + 91 824 2422271x5565; fax: + 91 824 2428183. E-mail address: drnag2002@rediffmail.com (K.R. Nagesh).
of the body or bones that tend to remain intact long after death such as the vertebral column will be useful for measurement. Numerous studies have been published for the estimation of stature from the vertebral column in different races viz., Fully and Pineau [4] in American Whites, Tibbetts [5], Jason and Taylor [6] in American Whites and Blacks and Terazawa et al. [7] in Japanese population. The present study was undertaken for the reason that no significant work has been documented among the South Indian population for the determination of stature using the vertebral column length. 2. Material and methods The study comprised of medico legal cases autopsied in Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore from July 2001 to July 2004. It consisted of 72 male and 45 female cases of South Indian origin aged between 20 and 50 years. Family members, police and hospital records provided information on age of the individuals. The bodies that were decomposed, extensively burnt and with vertebral anomalies excluded from the study.
1344-6223/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.legalmed.2006.05.007
270
K.R. Nagesh, G. Pradeep Kumar / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272
The body placed in supine position on a flat surface with knee and hip joints extended, and the neck in neutral position. A flexible steel measuring tape was used for the measurement. The crown-heel length of the body measured between the vertex of head and the heel. After complete evisceration of the organs of neck, thorax, and abdomen, the anterior surface of the vertebral column was exposed. The total vertebral column length measured along the curvature of vertebral column, from the top of odontoid process of C2 vertebra to the point between L5 and S1, as recommended by Jason and Taylor [6]. The sacral length was not included in the study. Then the lengths of cervical, thoracic and lumbar segments of vertebral column measured separately. The segmental borders were defined at the mid portion of the intervertebral discs as follows: • Cervical segment: From the top of odontoid process of C2 vertebra to the point between C7 and T1. • Thoracic segment: From the point between C7 and T1 to the point between T12 and L1. • Lumbar segment: From the point between T12 and L1 to the point between L5 and S1. All the measurements recorded by the first author to minimize the error in measurement. The data were analysed by using the SPSS version 10. For assessing the correlation between the stature and lengths of various segments of the vertebral column, the Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated and its significance was tested by Students t test. P value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant.
Table 2 Mean values of the length of vertebral column segments Segment length (cm)
Male
Female
Total vertebrae Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Cervico-thoracic Thoraco-lumbar
56.04±2.80 12.14±1.10 26.44±1.47 17.39±0.93 38.58±2.22 43.83±2.11
51.66±2.19 10.80±0.99 24.62±1.02 16.27±1.11 35.42±1.55 40.89±1.79
Table 3 Linear regression equations for stature estimation from vertebral column length in males Segment
Equation
SE (cm)
R
Total vertebral Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Cervico-thoracic Thoraco-lumbar
a = 1.882b + 60.699 a = 3.661b + 121.563 a = 3.037b + 85.715 a = 4.901b + 80.783 a = 2.224b + 80.228 a = 2.419b + 59.989
4.38 5.65 5.29 5.23 4.80 4.66
0.776 0.583 0.649 0.659 0.723 0.741
a, Stature (cm); b, segment length (cm); SE, standard error of estimate (cm); R, correlation coefficient.
error of the estimate in male and female population, respectively. In both sexes, highest correlation coefficient was found in the total vertebral column length with value of 0.776 in males and 0.708 in females. The least correlation coefficient was found for cervical segment in both sexes with value of 0.583 in males and 0.325 in females. The results derived from the present study were statistically significant (P = 0.001). Figs. 1 and 2 present graphs of total vertebral length versus stature with 95% confidence limits in female and male population, respectively.
3. Results 4. Discussion Mean age of the male study sample was 33.44±8.67 years and of the female sample was 27.47±7.06 years. The age distribution of study sample showed in Table 1. The majority of the study sample belonged to 20–30 years age group viz., 48.6% males and 75.6% females. The mean stature of the study sample was 166.01±6.90 cm in males and 153.51±5.83 cm in females. The mean lengths of vertebral column segments measured individually and with combination showed in Table 2. Tables 3 and 4 shows the linear regression equations for the estimation of stature from the various segments of vertebral column with correlation coefficient and standard Table 1 Age distribution of study sample Age (years)
Male Number (%)
Female Number (%)
20–30 31–40 41–50 Total
35 20 17 72
34 07 04 45
(48.6%) (27.8%) (23.6%) (100%)
(75.6%) (15.6%) (8.8%) (100%)
It is a well-known fact that stature varies in different races. In the present study, the mean stature of male sample is 166.01±6.90 cm and of female is 153.51±5.83 cm, which is comparable to Japanese samples done by Terazawa [7]. The stature of Black and White people included in Jason [6] and Tibbetts [5] study is much higher indicating the drastic racial difference. Table 4 Linear regression equations for stature estimation from vertebral column length in females Segment
Equation
SE (cm)
R
Total vertebral Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Cervico-thoracic Thoraco-lumbar
a = 1.899b + 55.361 a = 1.902b + 132.980 a = 2.960b + 80.640 a = 3.292b + 99.949 a = 2.061b + 80.537 a = 2.208b + 63.222
4.16 5.58 5.05 4.61 4.93 4.33
0.708 0.325 0.517 0.624 0.548 0.679
a, Stature (cm); b, segment length (cm); SE, standard error of estimate (cm); R, correlation coefficient.
K.R. Nagesh, G. Pradeep Kumar / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272
271
Table 5 Comparison of correlation coefficient (r) and standard errors (SE) of different studies Population 1. American Whites Male Female American Blacks Male Female 2. American Blacks Male Female 3. Japanese Male Female
R
SE (cm)
Reference
0.768–0.598 0.720–0.468
5.29–6.66 5.32–7.11
[6]
0.809–0.623 0.823–0.353
5.09–6.74 2.60–5.41
0.62–0.24 0.64–0.18
5.47–6.79 5.31–6.83
[5]
0.532 0.440
6.16 4.05
[7]
R, correlation coefficient; SE, standard error of estimate (cm). Fig. 1. Length of total vertebral length versus stature of female population, with regression line and 95% confidence limits.
The correlation coefficients in our study ranged from 0.776 to 0.583 in males and 0.708 to 0.325 in females. The standard error of estimate ranged from 4.38 to 5.65 cm in males and 4.16 to 5.58 cm in females. Table 5 shows the comparison of correlation coefficient and standard errors of studies conducted in different races. The present study showed highest correlation coefficient for the total length of the vertebral column in both sexes. This is in concurrence with results found in Tibbetts’ [5] female population and Jason’s [6] study population (except the Black females). Tibbetts [5] measured midline height of the dried vertebral bodies individually and later segmental groups made by adding these individual heights. In males, he found highest correlation coefficient (0.62) in several vertebral groups including lower thoracic and lumbar vertebrae with least standard error in the T12 to L4 vertebral group (5.47 cm). However, in females, highest correlation coefficient (0.64)
found in vertebral groups including almost all vertebrae with least standard error in C2 to L4 vertebral group (5.31 cm). In addition, Tibbetts [5] found in his female study population that the correlation coefficients continued to improve as the number of vertebrae in the bone-groups increased. Similar results observed in the present and Jason’s [6] studies, where the combination of segments especially the thoraco-lumbar segment showed better correlation coefficients than individual groups. This shows that, the longer the segment length, the more accurate is the result. In the present study, the lumbar segment showed highest and the cervical segment showed least correlation coefficient. The high correlation of lumbar segment is in concurrence with Terazawa [7] and Tibbetts’ [5] male population and different to Jason’s [6] study, where it occupies the least position. The low correlation of cervical segment is in concurrence with Jason’s [6] female population. SjBvold [8] mentioned that stature decreases approximately 6 mm per decade after the age of 30 years owing to decreased elasticity of the intervertebral discs and cartilage. Accordingly, age correction has been done in our study, which showed slightly improved correlation coefficients (at 0.01 levels) in male samples and slightly decreased correlation coefficients (at 0.01 levels) in female samples. However, there is no significant change in the formulae with age correction, which is in concurrence with the Jason’s [6] study. 5. Conclusion
Fig. 2. Length of total vertebral length versus stature of male population, with regression line and 95% confidence limits.
The present study concludes that the vertebral column can be a useful tool in the estimation of stature. In burnt, decomposed and mutilated bodies where the limbs are not available, the application of these equations will help in determining the stature of an individual, since the vertebral column is least damaged in such cases. The total vertebral column length gives the more accurate results. If the entire vertebral column is not available, combination of segments such as thoraco-lumbar and cervico-thoracic segments are more useful than the individual
272
K.R. Nagesh, G. Pradeep Kumar / Legal Medicine 8 (2006) 269–272
segments. In individual segments, the lumbar segment gives better results than other segments. Acknowledgements I am thankful to Dr K.W.D. Ravichander, Professor and Formerly Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore for his help in compiling the materials for this study. References [1] Trotter M, Gleser G. Estimation of stature from long bones of American Whites and Negroes. Am J Phys Anthropol 1952;10:463–514.
[2] Trotter M, Gleser G. A re-evaluation of estimation of stature based on measurements of stature taken during life and of long bones after death. Am J Phys Anthropol 1958;16:79–123. [3] Jantz RL. Modification of Trotter and Gleser female stature estimation formulae. J Forensic Sci 1992;37:1230–5. [4] Krogman WM, Iscan MY. Calculation of stature. The Human skeleton in forensic medicine. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publishers; 1986, p. 302–351. [5] Tibbetts GL. Estimation of stature from the vertebral column in American Blacks. J Forensic Sci 1981;26:715–23. [6] Jason DR, Taylor K. Estimation of stature from the length of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar segments of the spine in American whites and blacks. J Forensic Sci 1995;40:59–62. [7] Terazawa K, Akabane H, Gotouda H, Mizukami K, Nagao M, Takatori T. Estimating stature from the length of the lumbar part of the spine in Japanese. Med Sci Law 1990;30:354–7. [8] SjBvold T. Stature estimation from the skeleton. In: Siegel JA, editor. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2000. p. 277.