Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 94. (Budapest 2002)

Radoinova, D., Tenekedjiev, K. ; Yordanov, Y.: Stature estimation according to bone length in Hungarian population

Very often limb long bones are used for this purpose. The reason for this is that these bones are solid and difficult to get lost or destroy by external agents. Since the beginning of the 20th century there have been known principles governing the correlation between height and lengths of separate bones, the relationship being linear. The formulae for stature in common use are those of PEARSON (1919), BREITINGER (1938), DUPERTUIS and HADDEN (1951), TROTTER and GLESER (1952, 1958) etc. However, these are not equally adequate for different populations, because racial, national and secular changes do exist, especially in the 20th century (MEADOWS & JANTZ 1995, JANTZ & JANTZ 1999). This condition requires a new database and contemporary approaches to the problem. Its complex solution includes an interdisciplinary approach with the participation of medics and mathematicians. In this connection we are setting ourselves the task to establish adequate interdependencies between stature and the lengths of the three most accessible to measure limb long bones, taking into consideration also stature decline due to age. On our measured empirical data from regression procedures were applied for predicting stature of adult individuals by humerus, by fibula, by tibia and by both humerus and tibia, for either sex taking into account the changes due to aging. The calculated regression interdependencies are used in paleoanthropology and forensic anthropology. MATERIAL AND METHOD We have conducted measurements on 83 females and 186 males of Hungarian origin (age 20-66 years) on autopsy material of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Budapest, Hungary. The cause of death normally does not influence the height and/or the body proportions. We applied the classical anthropometrical methodology (MARTIN & SALLER 1957) and measured the stature and the normal (physiological) length of the humerus and the tibia (Martin No. 2), as well as the biggest (lateral) length of the fibula (Martin No. 1) of each corpse. The basic characteristics (mean value, standard deviations and ranges) of the data on which the regression would be built are shown on Table 1. Following regression analysis we investigated each of the four types of stature regression: on humerus (H), on tibia (T), on fibula (Fi), and on both humerus and tibia (H+T). The observations are separated to form two samples - females and males, the stature changes due to aging being registered and included in the system. Regression equations are derived from algorithms described by (TENEKEDJIEV & RADOINOVA 2001). We utilized mean values from measured left and right humerus, tibia and fibula. An age correction for stature decline is made, adding the decline in age to the measured postmortal stature using a chosen method: TROTTER-GLESER (1951), HERTZOG (1969), GALLOWAY ( 1988) and FRIEDLAENDER ( 1977), CLINE ( 1989) or GILES ( 1991 ) and BORCAN (1983). In this way the regressions of assessed maximal individual stature from the sample are built on the corresponding bone lengths. The prediction of maximal stature (by the regressions built) is corrected downwards according to the individual age with the same type of correction with which the learning sample is obtained. The data for each regression is tested for outliers in two loops by a series of t-tests on predicted residuals (MADDALA 1988). The screened sample is checked for heteroskedasticity by