title: Sexual dimorphism of the mandible in a contemporary Chinese Han population.
abstract: A present limitation of forensic anthropology practice in China is the lack of population-specific criteria on contemporary human skeletons. In this study, a sample of 203 maxillofacial Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, including 96 male and 107 female cases (20-65 years old), was analyzed to explore mandible sexual dimorphism in a population of contemporary adult Han Chinese to investigate the potential use of the mandible as sex indicator. A three-dimensional image from mandible CBCT scans was reconstructed using the SimPlant Pro 11.40 software. Nine linear and two angular parameters were measured. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) and logistic regression analysis (LRA) were used to develop the mathematics models for sex determination. All of the linear measurements studied and one angular measurement were found to be sexually dimorphic, with the maximum mandibular length and bi-condylar breadth being the most dimorphic by univariate DFA and LRA respectively. The cross-validated sex allocation accuracies on multivariate were ranged from 84.2% (direct DFA), 83.5% (direct LRA), 83.3% (stepwise DFA) to 80.5% (stepwise LRA). In general, multivariate DFA yielded a higher accuracy and LRA obtained a lower sex bias, and therefore both DFA and LRA had their own advantages for sex determination by the mandible in this sample. These results suggest that the mandible expresses sexual dimorphism in the contemporary adult Han Chinese population, indicating an excellent sexual discriminatory ability. Cone beam computed tomography scanning can be used as alternative source for contemporary osteometric techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China. Electronic address: hongmeidong1@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Key Lab for Oral Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, PR China.
authors.forename: Mohong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Health Section, Shanghai Pudong New Area Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Pudong, Shanghai 200136, PR China.
authors.forename: WenPeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong 515041, PR China.
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008875:Middle Aged; D054881:Sex Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese; Cone beam computed tomography; Forensic anthropology; Mandible; Sex dimorphism