Study of Stature Estimation from Sternum Length in Adult Western Indian Population

Estimation of stature is an important objective in the identification of an individual from dismembered and skeletal remains in forensic osteology. Stature estimation, however, is a constantly changing target for forensic anthropologists because of the secular trends in stature, allometric changes in long bones, and the migration of world population. It’s a challenging task for forensic anthropologist or forensic medicine personnel to establish the identity of the dead, especially in mass disasters. The present research was hence, undertaken to study the correlation between stature and the length of the sternum.

The present study was conducted in a tertiary care referral hospital and medical college in western India. The institutional clinical ethical committee has cleared the study protocol. Cadaver and sternum length was obtained from196 subjects.

As we go from manubrium to total sternal length through mesosternum, the area under curve (AUC) goes on increasing. In the similar manner McFadden's Rho-square, Cox and Snell R-square, Naglekerke's R-square all have shown upward trend.

The present study concludes that the length of the sternum is one of the reliable predictor of stature in the adult Western Indian population and can be used as a tool for stature estimation when better predictors of stature like the long bones of the limbs are not available during practical forensic case work involving examination of skeletal remains.