Determination of stature from cephalo-facial dimensions in a North Indian population

A forensic medicine specialist, while a conducting medico-legal autopsy, is often asked to opine about the identity of the deceased in unknown fragmentary and dismembered remains. Determination of stature is an important aspect in establishing identity in such cases. Sometimes, cephalo-facial remains are brought for postmortem and forensic examination. The aim of the present study was to estimate the stature from cephalo-facial dimensions in a sample of 252 Koli male adolescents from North India. As a part of Indian caste system, Kolis are an endogamous group of North India. Along with stature, sixteen cephalo-facial measurements were taken on each subject. The findings suggest that all the cephalo-facial measurements are significantly correlated with stature (P < 0.001, P < 0.01); the measurements of the cephalic region have strong correlation with stature than those of the facial region. This was also supported by the regression analysis, which shows that the cephalic measurements give better prediction of stature. Reliability of the regression formulae was checked by comparing the estimated and actual stature within the same sample (genetically homogeneous population, n = 252) and in another sample taken from a mixed population of North India (genetically heterogeneous population, n = 90).