Determination of stature and sex from anthropometry of the foot among south Indians

Abstract

Forensic podiatry deals with human identification from the foot which is of great value during calamities, terror strikes and in crime scenes. This study evaluates the significance of the foot in determining the sex and stature of the person. It presents linear and logistic regression equations for doing the same. The study was conducted on a sample of 300 South Indian medical students over two months. With their consent, stature, foot length, foot breadth at the ball and foot breadth at the heel were measured. Correlation of these measurements with stature and sex was evaluated and linear regression equations to predict the same were derived. It was found that the stature and foot measurements were larger in males compared to those in females. Foot length correlated best with stature (r2=0.657 females, 0.563 males). Foot breadth at heel correlated best with sex of a person (r2=0.915). Multiple regression analysis had better accuracy than simple linear regressions. Stature and sex of a person can be reliably predicted from the measurements of the feet among south Indians using linear and logistic regression analysis.