Basic Medical Sciences
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Browsing Basic Medical Sciences by Author "Gous, A. E. F."
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Item Open Access Prediction of the femoral length from markers on its proximal and distal ends(University of the Free State, 2003-11) Tegegn, Walelign Nega; Gous, A. E. F.An estimation of stature from the whole length of limb bones is well documented. However, skeletal remains available for forensic work are often fragmentary. This study presents a prediction of the femoral length using markers on its proximal and distal ends. A total of 400 South African White and Black adult dried femora, devoid of gross pathology, and grouped by sex were obtained from the Raymond Dart Collection of Human Skeletons in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The Maximum Femoral Length (FL), Neck-Shaft Angle (NSA), Neck Length (NL), Maximum Vertical Diameter of the Head of Femur (VDH), Intertrochanteric Apical Axis Length (ITAAL), Upper Breadth of the Femur (VHA), and Lateral Condyle Height (LCH) were measured. The data were statistically analysed using the various components of a PC version of SAS soft ware program. The student's t-test was used to calculate the significant differences of means between the sexes and races within the study sample as well as with other studies. The critical value for statistical significance was placed at the 0.05 level. Correlation coefficients between femoral length and the other variables were calculated. The length of femur significantly and positively correlated with all segment measurements in both races and sexes. Femoral length was regressed on segment measurements individually and in combination and simple as well as multiple linear regression equations were developed for White and Black South Africans. Stepwise selection procedure was employed to formulate the multilinear regression equations. Most of the models developed in the present study are significant at p< 0.0001, r² values are high, and standard errors of the estimates (S. E.E.) are very low. Therefore, the equations developed in this study present a reasonable degree of accuracy for the estimation of femoral length from its proximal and distal segments in South African Whites and Blacks. Once the length of femur is established, it is possible to calculate living stature of the individual with a reasonable degree of precision. The necessity of population and sex specific regression models is addressed.