Predictive role of hand and foot dimensions in stature estimation

Abstract

Stature estimation is a commonly used parameter in identification searched by medico-legal experts and forensic anthropologists. To estimate stature; measurements of hand length (HL), hand breadth (HB), wrist breath (WB), foot length (FL), foot breadth (FB) and ankle breadth (AB) were used in this study. It was aimed to predict most useful variables and to perform formulas originated from those variables significantly correlated to stature. Measurements were obtained from 356 volunteers. The best correlation value among 6 searched variables were detected in foot dimensions as FL variable for males r=0.696 and for females r=0.496 and in hand dimensions as HL variable for males r=0.578 and for females r=0.309, respectively. The least estimation error in stature prediction was achieved with using all variables in defined regression equations. Lengths measurements belong to hand and foot dimensions were more useful parameters than breadth measurements of those in stature estimation.