The Application of Frontal and Maxillary Sinuses Indices for Computed Tomography-Based Sex Estimation of a Brazilian Population

Abstract

This investigation aimed to compare the sexing accuracy of frontal (FS) and maxillary (MS) sinus indices with multislice computed tomography (MSCT) in Brazilian adults. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 MSCT examinations (50 males and 50 females). The height, width, and diameter of the FSs and MSs were obtained with the RadiAnt software to measure four indexes (I): FSI-1 and MSI-1 (both width/ diameter); FSI-2 and MSI-2 (both height/diameter). Areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) were determined. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio (LR), and accuracy values ​​were also calculated. The highest area under the ROC curve for the FS was obtained by the FSI-1 (0.712 ± 0.052; p < 0.001), whereas for the MS it was found in the MSI-2 (0.431 ± 0.058; p = 0.232).  FSI-1 showed greater specificity (64%) in predicting female sex as well as greater accuracy (64%) and LR (3.16). MSI-1 had the highest sensitivity value (68%) in estimating male sex and the second highest LR value (2.13). The FSI-1 developed in the present study exhibited higher accuracy compared to the other evaluated indices, which reinforces its importance for future studies with other populations.