Estimation of stature from little finger length and formulation of regression equation in both sexes

Abstract

Estimation of stature or height of a person is subject to variations during life due to muscular relaxation and elasticity of intervertebral discs, but could be still valuable in identification. Stature of an individual may reduce as age advances after 30 years due to natural senile degeneration. The stature will be reduced by 0.6mm per year after thirty. The identification of the dead body and corpus delicti is important before sentence is passed in murder trials. The present study was carried in the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, ESIC Medical College, Kalburagi. Total 140 students (70 males and 70 females) from ESIC Medical College, Kalburagi were randomly selected for the study. The present study “Estimation of stature from little finger length and formulation of regression equation in both sexes” is taken with the aim, to determine correlation between stature and little finger length of a person and develop regression formulae to estimate stature from little finger length for both male and female sexes separately. The results of this study showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the little finger length and the stature. In this study females shows strong correlation between little finger length and stature compared to males. The regression equation developed in the study can be used to estimate stature of a person efficiently with SE of 6.6289 and 6.5957 in males for right little finger and left little finger respectively and SE of 6.3239 and 5.3946 in females for right little finger length and left little finger length respectively.