Osteometry of Foramen Magnum by Using Post-Mortem Computed Tomography (PMCT) for Discri-minant Analysis of Sex and Population Affinity among Malaysian Population

Abstract

Osteometry of the foramen magnum was assessed for discriminant function analysis of biological sex estimation and population affinity estimation based on post- mortem computed tomography (PMCT) images in this Malaysian population-based study. This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed using convenient sampling of PMCT skull images originating from 300 Malaysian adults. Linear dimensions of the foramen magnum transverse diameter (FMTD) and anterior-posterior diameter (FMAPD) were measured. Statistical analyses were performed via independent t-test, ANOVA, univariate and multivariate analyses concurrently with discriminant function analyses. There were significant differences in FMTD and FMAPD between males and females within respective population affinities. The foramen magnum dimensions of males were comparably larger than females. There were relatively significant differences in FMTD and generally sufficient significant differences in FMAPD among population affinities. The osteometry of foramen magnum dimensions of Chinese were generally larger than Malays and Indians. This study concluded that the Foramen magnum dimensions have a stronger discriminant function in biological sex estimation with 60% accuracy as compared to population affinity estimation with only 40.7% accuracy. FMTD and FMAPD are the potential sex discriminators among the Malaysian population particularly if other indicators are not available for evaluation.

Keywords

• foramen magnum
• forensic anthropology
• postmortem computed tomography
• discriminant analysis
• sex estimation
• population affinity estimation
• forensic science