Determination of Sex from Humerus in the Population of Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra

Objective: In medicolegal cases it is expected to determine sex from isolated long bones or their fragments in order to establish a possible identity. For this reason the present study is undertaken on the samples of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra with the object to assess the value of different selected measurements of the human humerus in the determination of sex of an individual. Materials and Method: The material consist of 116 fully ossified humeri belonging to 58 dissection hall cadavers collected from Govt. medical college, Nagpur, out of which 42 were males and 16 were females of known sex and stature.Five parameters were used to study the sexual dimorphism- Maximum width of upper end of humerus, Circumference of surgical neck of humerus, Least shaft circumference, Transverse diameter of lower end of humerus and length of humerus. By Demarking Points (D.P.), percentage of bones in males and females were calculated.

Results: Using Demarking points, with Maximum width of upper end 17% male and 19% female right humeri and 14% male and 25% female left bones could be identified.With circumference of surgical neck 14% males and 13% females right humeri and 14% of males and 6% female left humeri could be identified. By transverse diameter of lower end 17% of right male, 13% of right female, 12% of left male and 6% of left female bones could be assigned sex.With least shaft circumference only 7% of right male humeri, 5% left male humeri and 6% left female humeri could be identified. No female right humerus was identified in the present study when this parameter was used. With length of humerus only 5% right male, 37% right female, 7% left male and 37% left female humeri could be sexed.

Conclusion: The maximum width of the upper end of humerus is the best criteria for sexual dimorphism of the human humerus, circumference of surgical neck, transverse diameter of the lower end, length of humerus and least shaft circumference are also discriminate parameters in order of accuracy.