Estimation of Stature from Intact Long Bones of Chinese Males in Comparison with American Whites and Negroes

Abstract

This study of estimation of stature from length of intact long limb bones is to be based on measurements of stature during life and of bones after skeletonization.A rather high degree of correlations between stature and long limb bones were determined, and from them, based on the theory of regression, new 152 regression equations, including 120 simple linear regression equations and 32 multiple regression equations, were computed. After a thorough analysis of the equations, it was found that inferior limb bone lengths are more highly correlated with stature than are superior limb bone lengths and, therefore, they may be expected to provide a more reliable estimation of stature; stature lower limb long bone regression equations reveal a lower standard error of estimate than that from the upper limb long bone. Never use a superior limb long bone to estimate stature when an inferior limb long bone is available. Moreover, estimation of stature from the sum of the length of femur and fibula (or tibia) appears still more reliable than that from any one of the lower limb long bones.Finally, the regression equations to estimate living stature from the long bones of Chinese males between 21 and 30 years of age were compared with the regression equations of American Whites and Negroes (M. Trotter, 1958).