ISSN: 2578-5079
Authors: Osaat RS*, Edibamode EI and Oragba SO
Estimation of stature is of paramount importance in verifying the identity of an individual from the bodily remains, often after any kind of mass disaster, explosion, etc. This study aimed at predicting the stature of students using their finger’s lengths. A total number of 300 students (153 females and 147 males) of Madonna University, Nigeria, was evaluated, age ranging from 18 to 25 years. All the subjects had complete fingers. Stature was measured with stadiometer while Fingers lengths were measured using a straight line ruler, all in centimeters. The data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), and the differences were tested using Z-test. The association between stature and Fingers Length was determined using Pearson chi-squared test. The results showed significant difference in the length of the fingers in both right and left hands of males and females respectively (p<0.01). From the result the middle fingers ranked highest for both male and female while the little fingers ranked least. A good correlation was found between the right middle finger and the height in the females and between the left middle finger and height in males. This shows that as the height of females increases, the middle finger of the right hand also increases significantly compared to the left hand middle finger (p<0.01), conversely, as males increase in height, their left hand middle finger tends to increase in length than the right hand middle finger (p<0.01). Linear regression equation was derived to predict stature from the finger’s lengths for male and female respectively. It was observed that amongst all the fingers, the middle fingers right-females and left-males, tend to correlate better with stature than every other finger, and therefore have the possibility of predicting stature than other fingers.
Keywords: Prediction; Stature; Finger’s lengths; Correlation
