Stature estimation from footprint measurements in Indian Tamils by regression analysis

Abstract

Stature estimation is of particular interest to forensic scientists for its importance in human identification. Footprint is one piece of valuable physical evidence encountered at crime scenes and its identification can facilitate narrowing down the suspects and establishing the identity of the criminals. Analysis of footprints helps in estimation of an individual’s stature because of the existence of the strong correlation between footprint and height. Foot impressions are still found at crime scenes, since offenders often tend to remove their footwear either to avoid noise or to gain a better grip in climbing walls, etc., while entering or exiting. In Asian countries like India, there are people who still have the habit of walking barefoot. The present study aims to estimate the stature in a sample of 2,040 bilateral footprints collected from 1,020 healthy adult male Indian Tamils, an ethnic group in Tamilnadu State, India, who consented to participate in the study and who range in age from 19 to 42 years old; this study will help to generate population-specific equations using a simple linear regression statistical method. All footprint lengths exhibit a statistically positive significant correlation with stature (p-value < 0.01) and the correlation coefficient (r) ranges from 0.546 to 0.578. The accuracy of the regression equations was verified by comparing the estimated stature with the actual stature. Regression equations derived in this research can be used to estimate stature from the complete or even partial footprints among Indian Tamils.

Keywords

• Forensic science
• Forensic anthropology
• Stature estimation
• Footprint
• Indian Tamils