NCJ Number
234425
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2011 Pages: 339-349
Date Published
March 2011
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study assessed whether obesity significantly affects femoral shape.
Abstract
Femora of 121 White men were divided into two weight classes based on body mass index (BMI) of the deceased. Five external anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) measurements were taken at consistent percentages of diaphyseal length. These were then subject to statistical tests. After controlling for age, multivariate statistics show a significant (p less than 0.05) effect of BMI on the femur, with the greatest significance in ML measurements. T-tests confirm these dimensions are significantly larger in the overweight (p less than 0.05). The effect of BMI on size-transformed and shape-transformed variables was also evaluated, with ANOVA results showing a significant BMI effect on ML size (p less than 0.05), but not shape. Significant size-transformed ML variables were then subject to discriminate function analyses with a cross-validation correction. Results show a correct classification rate of 88 percent in normal weight and 77 percent in overweight individuals. (Published Abstract)