Estimation of Stature by Factorizing Sternal Measurements On X-Ray Examination

The study was conducted to create general formula for stature estimation of adult male and female population respectively, upon measurements of length of sternum associated moieties, i.e. manubrium, mesosternum and xiphoid process alone or in combination using radiographic method. A number of 150 subjects were involved in this study. The subjects were males (100) and females (50) ranging from 18–70 years in age. The standing height of the subject was recorded before the sternum was scanned by a digital x-ray machine. The bone length was measured on the x-ray film of size 8x10 cm taken on console without magnification in centimeters (cm) and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0 for Windows. The results showed a significant relationship (p < 0.001) between stature and measurements of length of parameters of sternum. Simple Linear Regression Analysis was used to derive regression equation for sternum parameters alone or in combinations. Seven formulae for stature estimation of adult male and female population were derived respectively. This preliminary study concludes that the length of the sternum parameters alone or in combinations can be used as a tool for stature estimation in adult males and females.