Estimation of stature from head breadth in medical students of Kumaon region of Uttarakhand: An anthropometric study

Identification of a person, dead or alive, is of most importance in forensic practice, especially when decomposed, fragmented and mutilated human remains are received for postmortem examination. Stature happens to be an important parameter in medico-legal examinations. Human development and growth are affected by ethnic, racial, environmental and nutritional factors and therefore affect the stature of an individual. Studies conducted in the past have shown the relationship between stature and every part of the human skeleton and this relationship helps in calculating stature from mutilated and dismembered body parts.

The present study focuses on estimation of stature from head breadth and finding the correlation and regression formula between them among the medical students.

The present cross-sectional study was carried out for a period of 3 months from March 2025 to May 2025 in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Soban Singh Jeena Government Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Almora, Uttarakhand on total of 200 (100 male and 100 female) medical students in the age group of 17 to 30 years.

The current study showed low positive correlation between stature and breadth of head with correlation coefficient ® 0.106 in males and (r) 0.017 in females which is statistically not significant.

The present study showed that accurate estimation of stature from head breadth is not possible as there was low positive correlation between stature and head breadth.