jiafm, 2010-32(2) april-june. - forensic medicine

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ISSN 0971-0973 J Indian Acad Forensic Med, <strong>32</strong>(2)Original research paperSignificance of Sacral Index in Estimation of Sex in Sacra ofCadavers in Punjab*Dr. Anterpreet Kaur Arora, **Dr. Pankaj Gupta, ***Dr Shashi Mahajan, ****Dr Sonney Singh KapoorAbstractIn the identification of sex in human skeletal remains, Sacrum is an important bone for identification of sexin human skeletal system. Since it is a component of axial skeleton and because of its contribution to the pelvicgirdle and in turn to the functional differences in the region between the sexes, it has an applied importance indetermining sex with the help of measurements carried upon it. Over the years different authors had carried varioustypes of measurements on human sacra of different races and regions. A study for sexing of sacra was carried on 40sacra (20 male & 20 female sacra) in Punjab. The method used was sacral index. The measuring instrument usedwas sliding vernier calliper. All the sacra taken were normal. The sacral index of sacra its mean and standarddeviations were calculated. Then calculated range (mean + 3S.D.) and demarking points (DP) of both the parametersand the percentage of bones in which sex could be identified by them was also calculated. The results werecompared with the available literature. It was found that D.P of sacral index was very reliable in sexing of sacra.Keywords: Sacra, Sacral Index, Demarking Points, AnthropometryIntroduction:The best indicators of sex in the skeleton areto be found in the pelvis. This is because one of themajor biological differences between men andwomen, that of having babies, largely determines theshape of that part of the body. This can be seen thatfrom the sacral index, and sex can usually bedetermined even if part of the pelvis is destroyed. Theability to determine sex from unknown skeletalremains is vital, and methods to do this on the variousbones of the human skeleton have been researchedextensively.Many researchers have emphasized the needfor population specific data for methods which arebased on measurements, as there are vast differencesin body size in various populations.Corresponding Author:*Dr. Anterpreet Kaur Arora244, Medical Enclave, Opposite Kahlon, Diagnostics,Circular Road, Amritsar.Ph No: 0183-2570301; 09814975545,Email:doctor_neeru_preet@yahoo.com**Associate Professor,Department of Forensic Medicine***Assistant professor, Department of Physiology****Senior Resident, Department of PaediatricsSri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences andResearch, Vallah, Sri AmritsarThe well known method for determinationof male type sacrum or female type sacrum hasalways ideally been the Sacral Index method.The formula for Sacral Index is; SacralIndex = Width of Sacrum X 100 / Height of Sacrum.Materials and Methods:The materials for the present study consistedof 40 human adult sacra obtained from Dept. OfAnatomy, SGRDIMSAR, Amritsar. The use ofsliding vernier calliper was incorporated to determinethe sacral index of sacrum. Therefore sacral indexwas measured by taking the breadth and length ofindividual sacrum with the help of vernier calliper.The stem of calliper was applied to middle ofpromontory and middle of anteroinferior border offifth sacral vertebra for the length (height)photograph- 2 and measurement of maximum breadthwas taken across the greatest expanse of lateralmasses of the bone as shown in Photograph1 (a) (b).Photograph-1(a, b) to measure the width ofsacrum with Sliding Vernier Caliper(a)104
J Indian Acad Forensic Med, <strong>32</strong>(2) ISSN 0971-0973(b)Anterior straight breadth of sacrum:measured with sliding calliper as the distancebetween the anterior projection of left and rightanterior surfaces. Instrument used is sliding calliper.Photograph No. 2(To measure the height of sacrum)The maximum height or length wasmeasured by applying the sliding calliper to themiddle of promontory and middle of antero-inferiorborder of fifth sacral vertebra as shown inPhotograph-2. Instrument used is sliding calliper.Sacral Index:Thus, sacral index was calculated as Width(Maximum Breadth) X 100 / Maximum HMean and standard deviations were calculated for theranges of each parameter of both the sexes. Usingthese values „calculated range‟ was arrived at by theformula „meant± 3SD‟. For a given male, calculatedrange of „a to b‟ and female calculated „x to y‟,values of „a‟ (minimum in male range) and ‟y‟(maximum in female range) were chosen as„demarking points‟ (DP) [3], [4], [5] for females andmales respectively. The range, mean, calculatedrange (mean + 3S.D.) and demarking points (DP) ofvarious parameters and the percentage of bones inwhich sex could be identified by them, are given intable-2Results:The mean value of the width was higher infemale sacra than that in the male sacra and the meanof maximum height was higher in male sacra thanthat in the females. The mean value of sacral indexwas higher in females.The differences in the mean values of malesand females were analyzed statistically and theirsignificance is shown in Table-1.Table-1 shows that the width of sacrum andsacral index are important parameters as far as thesex determination of sacrum is concerned because45% of male bones and 40% of female bones couldbe identified by using the D.P. for the sacral index.The observations showed that in case of thesacral index method; the range for males was 58.9-128.38 and in case of females it was 90.94- 159.76;mean for males was 93.685 and for females it was125.35, as shown in Table-1. Thus by usingmean±3S.D. the demarking point for males was128.38. The presentstudy had found 9 readings of male falling within thedemarking point and 8 readings of female fallingwithin the demarking point. Therefore, the percentagebeyond demarking point for males was 45% and forfemales was 40% with an accuracy of 99.75% asshown in tableThe„t‟ value for sacral index was 3.68 and„p‟ value was < 0.0001 and it was considered highlysignificant.Discussion:It has widely been recognized that skeletalcharacteristics vary among populations [6-8], and dueto this regional variability that each populationshould have specific standards to optimize theaccuracy of identification. Several studies using avariety of measurements and characteristics of thepelvic bones have therefore been conducted from allover the world, with varying degrees of accuracy.The sacral index is lower in males than infemales, but in poorly preserved series they arevirtually useless, since these parts of the pelvis aremost susceptible to post-mortem erosion. In the past,many workers have evolved various metricalparameters and indices for sexing. [9] MacLaughlinand Bruce in 1986 attempted to improve methods ofskeletal identification through development of newmethods of determining sex or fine-tuning of existingmethods on various parts of the skeleton so that it canbe admissible in court. [10][11]The reports concerning results andaccuracies of studies in the metric characteristics ofmale and female sacra also seem to be quite different,105
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