Sexual dimorphism based on the sternum bone morphometry in human fetuses

Abstract

Abstract Background Sex determination of unidentified remains found in archaeological or forensic situations has been one of the primary tasks for specialists such as forensic anthropologists or bioarchaeologists. In cases of mass disasters such as armed conflicts, terrorist attacks, plane crashes, war-related crimes, etc., when decomposed, mutilated or damaged mortal remains consisting of only a few bones or their fragments are recovered from the scene, it becomes crucial to establish the biological identity, especially the sex of a missing individual. Although several bones, such as the pelvis, skull and femur, have contributed significantly as an indicator in the determination of sex, we often make use of less dimorphic elements of the skeleton, as is the case of the sternum. The objective of this study was to investigate the sexual dimorphism of the sternum of human fetuses from northeastern Brazil and to verify through statistical methods the accuracy of the sternum measurements to estimate the sex. All measurements of the sternum bones in human fetuses were made with the aid of a digital caliper with a precision of 0.01 mm by 3 different observers and the average was calculated. The means differences were evaluated using the T test and Mann-Whitney test and discriminant analysis. Result It was observed that all measurements (length and width of the sternum) in males showed slightly higher means. We can also infer for the model with all variables that the length and widths 2 and 3 of the sternum had an accuracy of 73.3%, whereas in the individual models, width 3 of the sternum had better accuracy (60%). Conclusion We can conclude that the sternum measurements of fetuses have not been shown to be reliable as an indicator in the determination of sex. Further development of these methods, as well as the expansion of the database, may help us to develop further sternum-based sex estimation functions and standard measurements for other potentially useful bones.