Stature estimation using measurements of the skull in Chinese populations

Estimating stature based on skeleton plays an important role in forensic investigation and individual identification. The skull consists of hard tissue and is the best-preserved part of an individual’s postmortem skeleton. Therefore, in many cases, it is the only one available. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between stature and skull measurements in a contemporary Chinese population using a 3D skull model reconstructed from CT scans. A total of 320 skull models were sampled in this study. These data were collected from populations in northern and southern China. Of these, 256 were used to establish regression equations and 64 were used for blind testing. We performed twelve skull measurements for each skull and used the Pearson correlation coefficient to estimate the correlation between stature and each measurement. Simple linear regression equations and multiple regression equations are established based on the measurement data and the correlation between stature and measurement variables. The results showed that all skull measurements except for Frontal sinus height were significantly correlated with stature. The standard errors of estimation (SEE) of the multivariate regression equation are smaller than that of the simple linear regression equation, which indicates that the multivariate regression equation is more reliable in estimating the stature of the Chinese population. Compared with other researchers, the regression equation established in this paper is used to estimate the stature of the Chinese population is effective. The results of this study are meaningful to forensics, anthropologists, and archaeologists, and can help them solve complex medical-legal problems.