Estimativa da estatura de adultos humanos a partir da largura bigoníaca e do arco mandibular

Abstract

Introduction: An individual's sex, age and height are of great importance in legal medicine, especially with regard to identifying corpses. Height estimates are based on the proportionality relationship that exists between an individual's height and his various body parts. Objective: To analyze the relationship between mandible measurements (length of the mandibular arch and bigonial width) and height. Materials and methods: This study was conducted on the population of the Mussuca "quilombo" settlement, which is in the municipality of Laranjeiras, state of Sergipe, Brazil. The sample was composed of 300 individuals: 150 women and 150 men aged 18-85 years. The statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Excel 2010. Results: The correlation coefficients were found to be low, with weak correlations between measurements of the mandibula and height. Analysis on these values show a very small positive correlation between height and the length of the mandibular arch among males (r = 0.177; p < 0.05) and among females (r = 0.271; p = 0.001); and between height and bigonial width among females (r = 0.169; p <0,05). Conclusion: Height may be estimated less exactly in cases in which only cephalofacial dimensions are available for legal medical examination.