Anthropometric measures to evaluate sex and stature from foot dimensions in a population of North-west India

Skeletonized, highly decomposed and commingled remains of the foot are often recovered from mass disaster scenes. Examining foot evidence can help understand human variation and assist investigative agencies in solving medico-legal cases. The present cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate sex and stature from various foot dimensions. Seven dimensions of foot considered for the study include 5 Toe lengths (FDT1-FDT5), Ball breadth (FDBB), and Heel breadth (FDHB). A total of 410 bilateral feet (205 individuals) were measured in the present study, out of which 128 were males and 77 were females. Results inferred left feet to be significantly larger than right feet for both sexes. The cut-off scores for male and female centroids were counted at -0.351, with a cross-validated value 86.7% for males and 89.6% for females in predicting group memberships for sex estimation. The correlation coefficient was found to be significantly higher in the pooled sample (.572** to .710**), in comparison to males (.201** to .526**) and females (.220** to .551**) separately. Significantly highest R² and S.E.E. values (p < 0.001) were observed for bilateral FDT2 in both sexes. Subsequently, population-specific models were obtained by formulating linear regression formulae to estimate stature. Results were inferred to be applicable in the population similar to the present study’s sample, and the database can contribute to ergonomics, medico-legal and forensic investigations.