TY - JOUR
T1 - Determination of sex from footprint dimensions in a ghanaian population
AU - Abledu, Jubilant Kwame
AU - Abledu, Godfred Kwame
AU - Offei, Eric Bekoe
AU - Antwi, Emmanuel Mensah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Abledu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2015/10/7
Y1 - 2015/10/7
N2 - The present study sought to verify the utility and reliability of footprint dimensions in sex determination in a Ghanaian population. Bilateral footprints were obtained from 126 Ghanaian students (66 males and 60 females) aged 18â€"30 years at Koforidua Polytechnic using an ink pad and white papers. Seven dimensionsâ€"length of each toe (designated T1-T5) from the most anterior point of the toe to the mid-rear heel point, breadth at ball (BAB) and breadth at heel (BAH)â€"and the heel-ball (HB) index were obtained from each footprint. Some footprint dimensions (i.e. T2, T3, T4 and T5) showed statistically significant bilateral asymmetry in males only. All the footprint dimensions, except HB index, were significantly greater in males than females (p0.001). Applied singly in discriminant function analysis, the footprint dimensions allowed 69.8%-80.3% of cases to be correctly classified into their sex groups; the accuracy of sex classification was higher using left footprints than right footprints. With all dimensions subjected to stepwise discriminant function analysis 80.3% and 77% of cases could be correctly classified, combining both T5 and BAH for left footprints and T1, BAB and BAH for left footprints respectively. The present study has demonstrated, for the first time among Ghanaian subjects, the utility and reliability of sex determination standards developed from footprint dimensions. The results thus provide the baseline for elaborated studies in the future.
AB - The present study sought to verify the utility and reliability of footprint dimensions in sex determination in a Ghanaian population. Bilateral footprints were obtained from 126 Ghanaian students (66 males and 60 females) aged 18â€"30 years at Koforidua Polytechnic using an ink pad and white papers. Seven dimensionsâ€"length of each toe (designated T1-T5) from the most anterior point of the toe to the mid-rear heel point, breadth at ball (BAB) and breadth at heel (BAH)â€"and the heel-ball (HB) index were obtained from each footprint. Some footprint dimensions (i.e. T2, T3, T4 and T5) showed statistically significant bilateral asymmetry in males only. All the footprint dimensions, except HB index, were significantly greater in males than females (p0.001). Applied singly in discriminant function analysis, the footprint dimensions allowed 69.8%-80.3% of cases to be correctly classified into their sex groups; the accuracy of sex classification was higher using left footprints than right footprints. With all dimensions subjected to stepwise discriminant function analysis 80.3% and 77% of cases could be correctly classified, combining both T5 and BAH for left footprints and T1, BAB and BAH for left footprints respectively. The present study has demonstrated, for the first time among Ghanaian subjects, the utility and reliability of sex determination standards developed from footprint dimensions. The results thus provide the baseline for elaborated studies in the future.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84948702995&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0139891
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0139891
M3 - Article
C2 - 26445236
AN - SCOPUS:84948702995
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 10
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 10
M1 - e0139891
ER -