Anthropometric correlations between parts of the upper and lower limb: models for personal identification in a Sudanese population.

Purpose: Identification of a deceased individual is an essential component of medicolegal practice. However, personal identification based on commingled limbs or parts of limbs, necessary in investigations of mass disasters or some crimes, is a difficult task. Limb measurements have been utilized in the development of biological parameters for personal identification, but the possibility to estimate the dimensions of parts of limbs other than hands and feet has not been assessed. The present study proposes an approach to estimate the dimensions of various parts of limbs based on other limb measurements.

Methods: The study included 320 Sudanese adults, with equal representation of men and women. Nine limb dimensions were measured (five based on the upper limb, four based on the lower limb), and extensive statistical analysis of the distribution of values was performed.

Results: The results showed that all of the measured dimensions were sexually dimorphic and that there was a significant positive correlation between the dimensions of various parts of limbs. Regression models (direct and stepwise) were developed to estimate the dimensions of parts of limbs based on measurements pertaining to one or more other parts of limbs.

Conclusions: The study revealed that the dimensions of parts of the upper and lower limb can be estimated from one another. These findings can be used in medicolegal practice and extended to constructive surgery, orthopedics, and prosthesis design for lost limbs.