Frontal sinus parameters in computed tomography and sex determination

• The frontal sinus is valuable for sex determination.
• It is not studied in Iranian population.
• It has an acceptable sex determination precision in people below 50 years old.
• It is not a useful tool for sex determination in the elderly.

The frontal sinus is a sturdy part of the skull that is likely to be retrieved for forensic investigations. We evaluated frontal sinus parameters in paranasal sinus computed tomography (CT) images for sex determination. The study was conducted on 200 normal paranasal sinus CT images of 100 men and 100 women of Persian origin. We categorized the studied population into three age groups of 20–34, 35–49 and ⩾50 years. The number of partial septa in the right frontal sinus and the maximum height and width were significantly different between the two sexes. The highest precision for sex determination was for the maximum height of the left frontal sinus (61.3%). In the 20–34 years age-group, height and width of the frontal sinus were significantly different between the two sexes and the height of the left sinus had the highest precision (60.8%). In the 35–49 years age-group, right anterior-posterior diameter had a sex determination precision of 52.3%. No frontal sinus parameter reached a statistically significant level for sex determination in the ⩾50 years age-group. The number of septa and scallopings were not useful in sex determination. Frontal sinus parameters did not have a high precision in sex determination among Persian adults.

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