Sex determination based on the analysis of a contemporary Polish population's palatine bones: a computed tomography study of 1,200 patients

The aims of the present study were to assess whether the hard palate reveals any measurable sex-related differences, and to create a mathematical model which would differentiate between males and females using hard palate measurements alone. The present study was conducted on 1,200 archived sinus co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Folia morphologica Vol. 73; no. 4; pp. 462 - 468
Main Authors: Tomaszewska, I M, Frączek, P, Gomulska, M, Pliczko, M, Sliwińska, A, Sałapa, K, Chrzan, R, Kowalski, P, Nowakowski, M, Walocha, J A
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Poland Wydawnictwo Via Medica 01-11-2014
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Summary:The aims of the present study were to assess whether the hard palate reveals any measurable sex-related differences, and to create a mathematical model which would differentiate between males and females using hard palate measurements alone. The present study was conducted on 1,200 archived sinus computed tomography (CT) scans. Each cranial measurement was taken twice by the same observer, and in cases of any discrepancies, the mean of the two values was recorded. Twenty per cent of randomly chosen samples were re-measured by an observer who did not partake in assessing the samples the first time. Logistic regression was used to derivate two mathematical formulas which would calculate the probability of a skull being male. The studied group comprised 1,200 head CT's (627 female; 52.3%). The mean age of the group was 43.5 ± 17.4 years - no age difference between sexes was noted (p = 0.37). All of the performed measurements were significantly (p < 0.0001) larger in males than in females. The mathematical formula based on the "orale-spina nasalis posterior" (O-SNP) distance alone had a reliability rate of 68.35%. The equation based on the depth of the right greater palatine canal (GPC), the O-SNP distance and the anterior width of the palatal arch (AWPA) had a reliability rate of 78.37%. The most prominent sexually dimorphic parameters were the O-SNP, the GPC depth and the AWPA. The mathematical models presented in the current study can be used to successfully distinguish between sexes during forensic examination.
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ISSN:0015-5659
1644-3284
DOI:10.5603/FM.2014.0069