Sexual dimorphism and anthropometric measurements of foot in adult Oyemekun ethnic group population in Akure, South-West Nigeria

Adelakun SA*, Ogunlade B, Akingbade GT, Olayemi OT, Fidelis OP and Owolabi FM

Background: Dismembered human remains are frequently found in cases of mass disasters and criminal mutilation. Therefore, it is of great importance to use foot dimensions for the determination of sex (gender) of an individual in order to assist in establishing personal identity. This study focused on sexual dimorphism using the anthropometric measurements of foot in adult Oyemekun ethnic population in Akure, Southwest Nigeria. 

Materials and Methods: The study population consists of randomly selected 500 adult subjects (250 males, 250 females) aged 18-50 years without any foot disability within Akure North and South Local Government, Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria. After explaining the purpose and procedure of the survey and obtaining an informed consent from each participant, the foot length and foot breadth of both foot were measured using an osteometric board, recorded and subjected to statistical analysis.

Results: The male participant had an average foot length about 1cm greater than female participant and foot breadth in male was about 1cm greater as compared to female. Differences in foot length and foot breadth in male and female subject of the population were statistically significant (p<0.05) compared to the foot in which the length is lesser than 26cm and breadth lesser than 11cm can be suggested to be that of a female while the foot with length greater than 26cm and breadth greater than 11cm can be suggested to be that of a male. 

Conclusion: Foot length, Foot breadth and foot index are higher in male compared to female. This proves sexual dimorphism of foot dimensions. Therefore, 26cm can be taken as the cut-off point for foot length and 11cm as the cut-off point for foot breadth in this locality.

Keywords:

Published on: May 28, 2019 Pages: 27-30

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/jbm.000009
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat