Sex Determination from the Second Cervical Vertebra: A Test of Wescott’s Method on a Modern American Sample*

Abstract

Numerous methods for establishing a biological profile exist; however, many of these methods rely on the recovery of several specific bones or on fragile skeletal elements that are sometimes irrecoverable. It is for this reason new methods utilizing other previously under-documented bones should be established and tested by the forensic anthropological community. This study tests the accuracy of Wescott's (J Forensic Sci 2000;45(2)) method for determining sex from the second cervical vertebra. Specimens were drawn from the donated skeletal collection curated at the Hamilton County Forensic Center (n = 57) and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection (n = 243). Both intra- and inter-observer error rates were low and accurate classifications ranged from 78% (females-Function 1) to 90.6% (males-Function 5). Of the five functions, Function 4 achieved the highest overall accuracy, with 260 individuals (86.7%) falling into the correct category. Overall, this method is an effective classificatory tool for sex estimation.

A Cross Sectional Study on Sex Difference in sagittal Length of Second Cervical Vertebrae

“…In the present study the mean sagittal length of second cervical vertebrae was significantly (P<0.001) greater in male than that of female (p<0.001) which was similar to the study represented by Wescott 4 , Marlow 5 and Bethard 6 . The lowest sagittal length of second cervical vertebrae in male was greater than that of female.…”

“…The tip of spinous process resembles an inverted U 1 . The sagittal length of second cervical vertebra is the difference between the most anterior point of the body and the most posterior point of the most projecting part of bifid spinous process [4][5][6] .…”

“…Determination of sex is estimated by second cervical vertebrae in forensic or archaeological situation 7 . The sagittal length is by far the best single variable for estimation of sex [4][5][6] . So far it is known the morphometric measurement of second cervical vertebrae have not yet been studied in Bangladesh.…”

Identification of sex and age for Egyptians using computed tomography of the first lumbar vertebra

“…Many authors were able to identify sex from measurements taken from the second cervical vertebra at accuracy rates ranged from 70% to 92.9% (Bethard and Seet, 2013;Gama et al, 2015;Torimitsu et al, 2016;Wescott, 2000). Moreover they proved that the second cervical vertebra is a good sex identifier especially when bigger bones are damaged.…”

Estimating Sex from second and seventh cervical vertebras in Iranian adult population using Computed Tomography scan images

“…Several sex determination studies have been conducted by metric analysis of talus, femur, patella, humerus, calcaneus, metatarsals, tarsals, metacarpals, phalanges, scapula, clavicle, and sternum [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Other studies applied CT imaging and real bone subjects with different sample sizes and levels of accuracy for sex discrimination from the vertebra [3,[18][19][20][21][22][23]. Voisin et al showed that the useful sexually dimorphic bones for forensic sex estimation are the rst seven cervical vertebrae (C1-C7) [24].…”