title: Human cranial vault thickness in a contemporary sample of 1097 autopsy cases: relation to body weight, stature, age, sex and ancestry.
abstract: The relation between human cranial vault thickness (CVT) and various elements of the physical anthropological biological profile is subject of ongoing discussion. Some results seem to indicate no correlation between CVT and the biological profile of the individual, whereas other results suggest that CVT measurements might be useful for identification purposes. This study assesses the correlation between CVT and body weight, stature, age, sex, and ancestry by reviewing data of 1097 forensic autopsies performed at the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI). In subadults (younger than 19 years of age at the time of death), all frontal, temporal, and occipital CVT measurements correlated moderately to strongly with indicators of growth (body weight, stature, and age). Neither sex nor ancestry correlated significantly with cranial thickness. In adults, body weight correlated with all CVT measurements. No meaningful correlation was found between CVT and stature or age. Females showed to have thicker frontal bones, and the occipital region was thicker in the Negroid subsample. All correlation in the adult group was weak, with the distribution of cranial thickness overlapping for a great deal between the groups. Based on these results, it was concluded that CVT generally cannot be used as an indicator for any part of the biological profile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Academic Medical Center, P.O. box 22660, Meibergdreef 9, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. h.h.deboer@amc.uva.nl.
authors.forename: H H Hans
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: De Boer
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Embryology and Physiology, Academic Medical Center, P.O. Box 22660, Meibergdreef 9, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A E Lida
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Van der Merwe
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. box 24044, Laan van Ypenburg 6, 2490 AA, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V Vidija
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Soerdjbalie-Maikoe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age; Ancestry; Biological profile; Cranial vault thickness; Forensic anthropology; Sex