Stature Determination from the Hand Dimensions among the Adolescent Boys and Girls of Ladakhi Population of Jammu and Kashmir (India)

Abstract

Forensic anthropologists and pathologists have solved various mysteries like identifying victims and documenting crimes. They have identified the remains of decomposed, partially skeletonised and burned victims. For identifications, the parameters like sex, stature, age and ancestry are the foremost essential components. Present cross-sectional study was carried out on 206 Ladakhi subjects (129 males and 77 females) aged between 14 to 19 years by random sampling method. Classifications were done on basis of standards given by Martin & Saller, (1957) and Vallois, (1965). The hand parameters showed significant sexual dimorphism in adolescent boys and girls at (p<0.001) of Ladakhi population. Analysis showed that hands parameters in adolescent girls are found to be more reliable and applicable for stature estimation than in boys. Regression equations showed that multiple regressions are better in predicting the stature than the linear regression in Ladakhi adolescents. The present study revealed that like other body dimensions like long bone length, cephalofacial dimensions, foot dimensions, etc., hand dimensions can also be applied for stature reconstruction when only hand are available for forensic examinations.