Evaluating Accuracy and Precision in Morphologic Traits for Sexual Dimorphism in Malnutrition Human Skull: a Comparative Study

Abstract

One of the most important purposes of anthropological studies of human skeletons protocol is the determination of sex. Some skulls may be wrongly classified due to systemic conditions presented during the life of individuals who affected the muscle forces that act on bones, as is the case of severe malnutrition. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of severe malnutrition on morphological determinants of sexual dimorphism classically studied in the visual analysis of the skull. 163 human skulls were analized with sex, age and cause of death known, belonging to the collection of Universidad Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP). We performed visual inspection of the skull and diagnosis of sex based on size and overall architecture of the skull, an aspect of the zygomatic bone, size and roughness of the mastoid process, ridges of the occipital bone and general appearance of the jaw. The skulls were classified into two groups according to whether severe malnutrition had described in his cause of death (n=60) or had other cause of death (n=103). The results of the inspection were compared with the registry to determine the accuracy in diagnosis and sensitivity of the method for male and female in both groups analyzed. In the group with malnutrition the best indicator was the appearance of the zygomatic bone, with a 86.6% accuracy. In another group closely was found in the size of the mastoid (87.3%). In both groups the highest values of sensitivity were for male (83.3-95.3%). The sensitivity to female showed lower values in the group without malnutrition (69.2-76.9%) than in the group withmalnutrition (72.4-89.65%), these differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05).