title: Cephalo-facial analysis to estimate stature in a Sudanese population.
abstract: Medico-legal practitioners are often confronted with dismembered remains from which they need to develop a biological profile to establish identity. Accurate estimation of stature is an initial, crucial component of any meaningful medico-legal evaluation. However, sometimes only cephalo-facial remains are available. The most accurate statistical estimations of biological attributes are based on population-specific standards. Therefore, this study assessed the ability to estimate stature using 15 cephalo-facial measurements in 240 Sudanese adults (120 men, 120 women) aged 18-25years. Stature and cephalo-facial measurements of men were significantly higher than those of women. Most of the measurements were significantly correlated with stature (p<0.05), with better correlations for women than for men. The accuracy of stature estimation using sex-specific simple and stepwise multiple regression equations ranged from ±52.53 to ±60.28mm. This study provides new forensic standards for stature prediction in a Sudanese population. However, the equations should be used with caution in forensic cases when the more reliable body parts (e.g., limbs) are not available for human identification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, National Guard Health Affairs, Mail Code: 3127, P.O. Box 3660, Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia; Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 102, Khartoum 11111, Sudan. Electronic address: drahmedal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Altayeb Abdalla
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 102, Khartoum 11111, Sudan.
authors.forename: Samah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taha
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D001827:Body Height; D002508:Cephalometry; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013397:Sudan
keywords: Anthropometry; Cephalo-facial; Forensic; Identification; Stature Estimation; Sudanese