Abstract

For anthropological and medicolegal reasons, sex is usually identified from the human skeleton. The hip bone is normally used and the ischiopubic index is one of the best parameters used for determination of sex. This study was carried out to determine the pubic length, ischial length and ischiopubic index of the South-South people of Nigeria. Anteroposterior radiographs of adult pelvis (age range, 18-75 years) were evaluated. Five hundred and eighteen (518) radiographs (259 males and 259 females) were those of the south-South people of Nigeria. The morphological measurements were pubic length, ischial length and ischiopubic index. The mean values of pubic length, ischial length and ischiopubic index of male South-South Nigerians were 74.99 mm, 85.03mm and 88.65, respectively while those of their females were 84.48 mm, 79.52 mm and 106.45, respectively. The mean pubic length was significantly longer in females than males in the population (p<0.05). The mean ischial length was significantly higher in males than in females (p<0.05). The ischiopubic index of the females was significantly higher than that of the males. Using the radiographs, sex could be assigned to 32.43% of males and 31.66% of females when using the formulae (Mean±3SD). But then, using the formulae (Mean±2SD), sex was assigned to 68.72% of South-South Nigerian males and 62.53% of South-South Nigerian females. When these results were compared with other races, there were racial differences. Thus, this study is important as it has provided the necessary data for the Nigerian population under investigation. An ischiopubic index greater than (90) will most probably be that of a female and less than (90) will most probably be that of a male in South-South Nigeria. The data is recommended to obstetricians, physical anthropologists and forensic scientists.

Keywords:

Anthropologists, ischial length, ischiopubic index, forensic scientists, Nigerians, pubic length,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.