Evaluation of the Indicators of Sexual Dimorphism in the Skull- An Accelerated Research

Abstract

Introduction and Objective: Skull is the preferred bone for identification of sex of the deceased as it resists decomposition, mutilation and fire. Cranial Index, Nasal Index and Orbital Index are commonly used for sexual dimorphism of skull. To know the reliability of these indices for sexual dimorphism of the skull.
 Materials and Method: The study material consisted of 100 adult skulls of known sex available in the Anatomy department of Mala Reddy Medical College for Women from August 2021 to January 2022 (6 months) which includes 60 males and 40 were female. Measurements were taken after putting the skull in Frankfurt's horizontal plane. Instruments used for the measurement were Vernier caliper, spreading caliper, scale and marker. Measurements were taken twice at different sittings and their average was taken.
 Results- In the present study, mean CI in male and female skulls was 74.68±4.21 and 77.12±4.92 respectively while their NI was 50.76±5.61 and 56.86±6.65 respectively. In male skulls the mean OI was 87.47±8.09, while it was 87.88±5.55 in female skulls. The identification points and demarking points were calculated for all these three indices.
 Conclusion: None of the three indices namely CI, NI or OI were promising individually in identifying sex as a very low percentage of skulls could be identified. The study concludes that the reliability of these three cranial indices is doubtful in sexual dimorphism of the skull.
 Keywords: Sexual dimorphism; Demarking points; Cranial Index; Nasal Index; Orbital Index;