Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine (IAFM) - Official website of IAFM

J Indian Acad Forensic Med. Jan- March 2012, Vol. 34, No. 1 ISSN 0971-0973
the area and were supplied from cadaver
dissection for routine teaching purpose.
Osteometric measurements were taken
by a technical quality divider and metallic (steel)
graduated scale with readings up to one mm. All
measurements were taken keeping the bone in
the anatomical positions. To test the intra
observer differences and repeatability of those
measurements ten randomly selected hipbones
were measured after one week and the values
of the two groups were tested by a paired t test.
No significant difference was found in the two
measurements of all the three variables.
The following measurements (in cm.) were
taken. (Figure 1)
1. Sciatic notch width (AB): Measured
from the ischial spine to the pyramidal
process of the posterior border of the ilium.
2. Acetabular height (CD): This is the
vertical diameter of the acetabulum
measured along the axis keeping the bone
in anatomical position.
The Sciatic notch /Acetabular index
(SAI) was calculated for each bone from the
following formula – SAI = AB/CD x 100
Metric data was summarized as
maximum, minimum, range, mean and standard
deviations. One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov
Test was used to examine the normality of the
distribution. Sectioning point (sum of the mean
of the two sexes divided by two) was obtained
for each variable. Student t-Test for independent
sample was performed to examine the
difference in the means of the variables in the
two groups.
Sex was determined by using the
Kelley’s rule and compared with the documented
sex of the bone. Subsequent sectioning point for
the sciatic notch /acetabular ratio was calculated
from the sample and it was applied for to
determine the sex of the bone. This new rule of
thumb was then compared with the Kelley’s and
examined in the sample under study. Statistical
analysis was performed using SPSS software
version 10.0 for windows. A two-tailed P value of
less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results:
The table 1 and 1A shows the summary
statistics of the variables used in the present
study. The sciatic notch width in males was 4.39
and in females it was 4.91cm. The mean
acetabular height in cm for the male and female
were 5.29 and 4.80 respectively.
The results of t-Test are seen from table
number 2.The t-test indicates that there is
significant difference in the mean sciatic notch
width and Kelley’s index between male and
28
female. The acetabular height was also
significantly different in the two sexes. (t = 6.95,
degree of freedom = 28, p value= .000)
Table 3 shows the results of applying
Kelley’s rule of thumb approach to the study
sample in the present series. It was observed
that moderate 76.7% of the total bones could
be correctly classified into its proper sex. Of
these, 64.28% of the male bones and 87.5% of
the female hipbones were classified correctly by
the Kelley’s rule. According to Kelley’s method
bones with sciatic notch /acetabular height ratio
equal or greater than 88 were female while
those with values less or equal to 86 were male.
Table 4 shows the sectioning point
obtained for the variables in the present series.
For the Kelley’s index the sectioning point for
Indian Bengali sample was 0.93.The Kelley’s
index was significantly greater in females than in
males (t= 8.39, degree of freedom = 28, p=
0.000). Thus we computed the cut off value of 0
.93 from the present series and formulated a
new rule of thumb (Hereafter Called the new
rule). The new rule was as follows. Bones with
sciatic notch /acetabular height index equal or
greater than .93 (or 93 when expressed as a
percentage) were definitely female and those
with values less than .93 were male.
Table 5 shows the results of applying
the new rule on the present series of Indian
Bengali hipbones the results indicate that 93.3
% of the total sample could be correctly
classified in to the proper sex. Of those 13 out of
14 (92.8%) of the males and 15 out of 16
(93.75%) of the females were correctly classified
by the new rule.
Discussion:
The present investigation was
conducted to examine the applicability of
Kelley’s index in sexing hipbones of Indian
skeletal remains. The results clearly indicate that
the Kelley’s rule of thumb approach could
correctly classify only moderate of the hipbones.
This is in consonance with works on English and
Dutch samples where % could be correctly
assigned to its proper sex. [7] Regarding sex
specific application of Kelley’s rule the results
are better for female than male bones. This fact
is contrary to the earlier observation on English
and Dutch sample where males could be
classified with greater accuracy. This proves,
though highly dimorphic, the pelvis shows some
racial /population variation in Morphometric.
The Kelley’s index was significantly
different in the two sexes. The index was greater
in females than in males. Taking the individual
variables it was seen that the mean Acetabular