Evaluation of Purkait's triangle method for determining sexual dimorphism.
The identification of sex from the skeleton is an important demographic assessment in medicolegal investigations. Rama Purkait developed a method for estimating sex using measurements from a triangle defined by three points on the proximal end of the femur using skeletal material from Bhopal, India. This method was tested with measurements on 200 Indo-European and African American adult femora from the Terry collection using discriminant function analysis to determine if Purkait's method was valuable for determining sex in Americans. A side-by-side analysis was conducted of Purkait's "triangle method" and the maximum diameter of the femoral head to determine their relative value in assessing sexual dimorphism. In the study sample a single variable from Purkait's method provided 85.5% prediction accuracy, similar to 87% for the head diameter. Combining threshold values for a single variable from Purkait's method and the femoral head diameter raised the predictability to greater than 90% for both sexes.
Brown
Robert P
RP
U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Fort Lewis, WA 98433, USA. Robert.paul.brown@us.army.mil
Ubelaker
Douglas H
DH
Schanfield
Moses S
MS
D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044469:Racial Groups; D012727:Sex Characteristics