Abstract

Background: Estimation of stature plays an important role in medico-legal cases in the identification of unknown bodies, parts of bodies or even skeletal remains. There exists a strong relationship between stature and dimensions of different body parts, particularly bone lengths, which forms the basis for stature estimation. Ulna bone is used as it is subcutaneous and hence surface landmarks such as olecranon and styloid process are easily identifiable and can be used for measurements. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out on 300 medical students of Marathwada region of Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College, Nanded, Maharashtra. Height and percutaneous ulna length were recorded for each subject. Result: Mean height of male subjects is 171.99 ± 6.04. Mean of length of right and left ulna in male subjects are 26.92 ± 1.30 and 26.85 ± 1.32 respectively. The mean height of female subjects is 165.49 ± 3.18. Mean of length of right and left ulna in female subjects are 21.77 ± 0.93 and 21.69 ± 0.88 respectively. The correlation of stature with ulnar length is 0.66 in males and 0.70 in females, which are positive and statistically highly significant (P < 0.01). Conclusion: In Marathwada region of Maharashtra mean height and length of ulna is more in males than in females and it is statistically significant. Simple linear regression equation so far derived can be used if either of the measurement of length of ulna or total height is known, the other can be calculated. This fact will be of practical use in Medico Legal investigations and in Anthropometry.

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