Sexual dimorphism of acetabulum–pubis index in South-Indian population

Accurate sexing of skeletal remains is a vital part of any medicolegal investigation and a challenge to physical anthropologists. Hipbone is considered as the most reliable sex indicator in the human skeleton. Standards of morphological and morphometric sex differences in the skeleton may differ with the population sample involved and thus cannot be applied universally. The acetabulum–pubis index (A–P index) which is one of the reliable criteria for sex differentiation of human hipbones is derived from the measurements of acetabulum diameter and the distance between its anterior rim and symphysis pubis. Sixty-seven adult hipbones of known sex (36 males and 31 females) belonging to South-Indian population were studied to investigate sexual dimorphism of the well established A–P index. The index below 77.5 identified 81% of females and above 77.5 identified 83% males accurately.