Determination of Sex from Cranial Length, Cranial Height and Length-Height Index

One of the most important objectives of postmortem examination is to establish the identity of the individual. Age, sex, stature are key factors to decide a person's identity. Various parts of the skeleton are useful in sex determination such as the pelvis, long bones, mandible and cranium. Among these, the skull can be used to ascertain individual sex with high accuracy. Most of the previous studies of sex differences in the skull were centred on morphological traits in a descriptive manner (cranioscopy) whereas the recent studies are focused on morphometry or craniometry in largely quantitative and statistical aspects. A prospective craniometric study was conducted to differentiate sex from dry human skulls, on the basis of cranial length, cranial height and cranial length-height index. The study was conducted on 160 human skulls (100 males and 60 females) of adult age, in the department of Forensic Medicine, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal. On statistical analysis, the cranial length, height and length-height index were found to be useful parameters for determining sex of an individual (p<0.01 for cranial length and height and p>0.05 for cranial length-height index).