Estimation of stature from the length of sternum: A two year study

Estimating stature is an important step in reconstructive identification of skeletonised and dismembered human remains; it is one of the four attributes of the biological profile obtained from human skeletal remains. The most reliable bones for reconstruction of stature are long bones, but since very often long bones are not available, the development of alternative methods, based on other distinct bones is necessary.

The aim of this study was to verify the use of the length of the sternum as an estimator of adult height among south Indian population and to propose regression equations and test the formulae for determining adult stature.

The data consisted of measurements of length of sterna removed from cadavers of known stature. The sample comprised of sternum from 100 corpses, which included 50 males and 50 females between the age range of 20–80 years old, collected during the autopsies carried out at Sri Devraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, Karnataka.

Majority of the subjects were in the age group 21 to 30 years and 31 to 40 years (27% respectively). Among the females, Mean length of the body was 156.2 ± 6.4 cms and among the males, it was 163.2 ± 7.9 cms. Similarly among the females, Mean length of sternum was 15.1 ± 1.5 cms and among the males, it was 16.1 ± 1.9 cms.

There was significant positive correlation between Length of body and the Length of sternum, i.e. with increase in length of body there was significant increase in sternum and vice versa.