Modeling the Entire Length of the Fragmentary Dry Femur Using Population-Specific Morphometric Characteristics

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Seda Sertel Meyvac; Handan Ankarali & Beyza Celik

Summary

This study aims to develop a model for estimating the entire length of the femur (FEL) from dry femur specimens using measurements from its proximal and distal parts, contributing to the process of stature estimation in biological profile analysis. The study was conducted on 40 dry femurs (22 right, 18 left) of unknown age and sex from the bone collection of the Anatomy Department at Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Faculty of Medicine. Measurements were taken using a digital caliper with a precision of 0.01 mm. A significant linear relationship was observed between all measurements and the FEL (A-K). The highest linear correlations were found with the E-K, B-K, and G-K measurements, while the lowest correlation was observed with the Axl measurement. As no significant difference was found between the right and left femurs, analyses were performed using the average values. In the first stage, multiple linear regression analysis was applied. Using the backward variable selection method, 7 out of 19 measurements (B-K, F-K, B-H, B-G, A-E, Lnt, H-K) were included in the model. The final multiple linear regression model yielded a determination coefficient of 94.4 %. In the MARS model, 5 out of the 19 independent variables were included in the formula. The MARS model had a determination coefficient of 97.1 %. The measurements with the highest importance values in the model were, in order: E-K, B-K, A-H, F-K, and B-H. It is expected that the modeling of the FEL using measurements from the proximal and distal parts of the dry femur will have a high success rate in predicting femur length, and that the results will contribute to researchers working on stature estimation from femurs and biological profile analysis in the next phase.

KEY WORDS: Femur morphometry; Stature prediction; Height; Individual identification; Forensic anthropology; Turkish population.

How to cite this article

ERTEL MEYVACI, S.; ANKARALI, H. & CELIK, B. Modeling the entire length of the fragmentary dry femur using population- specific morphometric characteristics. Int. J. Morphol., 43(5):1635-1642, 2025.