Smitha Subash
BACKGROUND Sex of an individual can be known with much accuracy when the whole skeleton is available. Sex can be predicted using osteon count of femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted on 100 known males and 100 known females above the age of 18 years brought for autopsy in the Department of Forensic Medicine, State Medico-Legal Institute, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram for a period of 9 months. Unstained slides were prepared from femur bits taken from right femur. Osteon counts were taken. The values were subjected to statistical analysis to find out the correlation if any. The formula for sex determination was done using discriminant analysis. RESULTS From the discriminant function coefficients, the formula for calculating the sex when osteon count per field of femur is known was obtained. CONCLUSION In this study, it is found that there is some difference in the osteon count of femur between males and females. Thus, sex can be predicted from the formulae derived from the present study using osteon count of femur with 59.1 % accuracy.
