SEX DETERMINATION BY DISCRIMINANT-ANALYSIS OF PATELLA MEASUREMENTS

The authors have analyzed 80 skeletons (40 males and 40 females) from the collection at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University of Bari belonging to a known contemporary Southern Italian population; t ime of death was around 1970 and ages ranged from 25 to 80 years. Seve n measurements taken on 80 intact, undeformed right patellae (max heig ht, max width, thickness, height and width of the external facies arti cularis, height and width of the internal facies articularis) were use d to determine sex by multivariate discriminant analysis. One function associating two parameters (max width and thickness) obtained the hig hest value of correct sex determination with a rate of 83.8%; other fu nctions showed a higher percentage of misclassification (up to 17.5%). This study tests the success rate of correct sex prediction based exc lusively on patellar dimensions. The discriminant functions carried ou t by statistical analysis may aid the forensic anthropologist when no other human skeletal remains suitable for sex determination are availa ble. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.